Modular printhead and methods of loading and printing using it

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a modular printhead for a color printer. The printhead includes a plurality of nozzles each of which has an ink supply port, an ink deposition port and a firing control port to receive signals to cause deposition of an ink dot from the deposition port (firing) during a firing cycle of the printhead. The nozzles of the printhead are arranged in groups, or pods, with the ink supply ports of the nozzles of each pod connected to a common ink supply line. The nozzles of each pod are arranged in rows (the rows extend in the direction across the page to be printed), and the rows of nozzles are offset from each other so that the nozzles of each row deposit dots onto different lines if fired simultaneously. Pods of each different color are arranged together into operating groups in which selected mutually exclusive sub-groups of nozzles have their firing control ports gated to enable them to be fired simultaneously at predetermined phases of a firing cycle. Methods of loading and printing are also claimed.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a modular printhead for a colorprinter. In further aspects the invention concerns methods of printingand loading using the printhead.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a modular printhead for a color printer,including a plurality of nozzles to cause deposition of ink drops duringa firing cycle of the printer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There is disclosed herein a modular printhead for a color printer,including a plurality of nozzles, each nozzle effecting deposition of anink drop to form a dot on print media during a firing cycle of saidprinthead, wherein said nozzles are arranged in pods, with said nozzlesof each pod connected to a respective common ink supply line, thenozzles of each pod being arranged in a number of distinct rows, andpods of each different color being arranged together into operatinggroups in which selected mutually exclusive sub-groups of nozzles aregated to enable the nozzle of each sub-group to be fired simultaneouslyat predetermined phases of said firing cycle, one pod of each differentcolor being grouped together to form a chromapod in which the pods ofdifferent colors are arranged so that the dots printed by the nozzles ofone color will be for different lines than those printed by the othercolors at the same time, but each pod of the chromapod will print thesame group of dots in turn, one or more chromapods being formed into aphasegroup in which groups of nozzles are fired simultaneously during agiven firing phase, and one or more chromapods being organised into asingle podgroup, one or more podgroups being organised into a singlephasegroup, one or more phasegroups being organised into a singlefiregroup in which the same nozzles are fired simultaneously, one ormore firegroups making up a segment, and said printhead having a numberof segments side by side.

In one example there are two rows of nozzles in each pod and the nozzlesof one row deposit the even dots along one line on the page, and thenozzles of the other row deposit the odd dots along the adjacent line onthe page.

The amount of offset between the rows of nozzles is designed to matchthe flow of paper under the nozzles.

The nozzles of each pod may be fired in order, along a first rowstarting from a first side, and then along the other row in the samedirection ending at the other side.

A single pod may consist of ten nozzles sharing a common ink reservoir.Five nozzles are in one row, and five are in another. Each nozzle mayproduce dots 22.54 μm in diameter spaced on a 15.875 μm grid.

One pod of each different color may be grouped together to form achromapod in which the pods of different colors are arranged so that thedots printed by the nozzles of one color will be for different linesthan those printed by the other colors at the same time, but that eachpod of the chromapod will print the same group of dots in turn.

One pod of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, may be grouped into achromapod. A chromapod represents different color components of the samehorizontal set of ten dots on different lines. The exact distancebetween different color pods is a constant number of dot-widths, andmust therefore be taken into account when printing: The printingalgorithm must allow for a variable distance of dot-widths betweencolors.

One or more chromapods may be formed into phasegroup in which groups ofnozzles in enabled podgroups are fired simultaneously during a givenfiring phase. One or more of the podgroups of a phasegroup are enabledat the same time, depending of the speed of printing required.

Five chromapods may be organised into a single podgroup. Since eachchromapod may contain 40 nozzles, each podgroup may contain 200 nozzles:50 cyan, 50 magenta, 50 yellow, and 50 black nozzles.

Two podgroups may be organised into a single phasegroup. The phasegroupis so named because groups of nozzles within a phasegroup are firedsimultaneously during a given firing phase. The formation of aphasegroup from two podgroups allows both low-speed and high-speedprinting via two PodgroupEnable lines.

Two phasegroups may be organised into a single firegroup, with fourfiregroups in each segment. Firegroups are so named because they allfire the same nozzles simultaneously. Two enable lines allow the firingof the Phasegroups' nozzles independently as different firing phases.

A 4-inch printhead will typically be made up of eight segments side byside, and each segment will have four firegroups.

A wider printhead may be made by assembling two of the printheadstogether. So an 8-inch printhead consists of two 4-inch printheads for atotal of 51,200 nozzles.

The nozzle hierarchy allow overlapping phases and multiple speeds whilemaintaining even power consumption. In addition, the nozzle groupingspods provide physical stability.

In terms of power consumption, the nozzle groupings enable a low-speedand a high-speed printing mode to allow speed/power consumptiontrade-offs to be made in different product configurations.

A single 4-inch printhead may contain a total of 25,600 nozzles. A PrintCycle involves the firing of up to all of these nozzles, dependent onthe information to be printed. To fire them all at once would consumetoo much power and be problematic in terms of ink refill and nozzleinterference. Further, the firing of a nozzle also causes acousticperturbations for a limited time within the common ink reservoir of thatnozzle's pod. The perturbations can interfere with the firing of anothernozzle within the same pod. Consequently, the firing of nozzles within apod should be offset from each other as long as possible.

To address this, one nozzle per color may be fired from a chromapod andthen a nozzle from the next chromapod within the podgroup may be fired.

Two firing modes may be defined: a low-speed printing mode and ahigh-speed printing mode:

During low-speed printing, only one Podgroup of each phasegroup is givenfiring pulse, so only one podgroup of the two fires nozzles. In thelow-speed printing mode the chromapods within both podgroups must allfire before the first chromapod fires again.

In the low-speed printing mode, 128 nozzles may be fired simultaneouslyfrom each 4-inch printhead. The fired nozzles should be maximallydistant, so 16 nozzles are fired from each of the eight segments. Tofire all 25,600 nozzles, 200 different sets of 128 nozzles must befired.

During high-speed printing, both Podgroups are set, so both podgroupsfire nozzles. In the high-speed printing mode the chromapods within asingle podgroups must all fire before the first chromapod fires again.

In the high-speed printing mode, 256 nozzles may be fired simultaneouslyfrom each 4-inch printhead. The fired nozzles should be maximallydistant, so 32 nozzles are fired from each segment. To fire all 25,600nozzles, 100 different sets of 256 nozzles must be fired.

Consequently a low-speed print takes twice as long as a high-speedprint, since the high-speed print fires twice as many nozzles at once.The power consumption in the low-speed mode is half that of thehigh-speed mode. Note, however, that the energy consumed to print a pageis the same in both cases.

The printhead produces several lines of feedback to adjust the timing ofthe firing pulses. One feedback signal informs the controller how hotthe printhead is. This allows the controller to adjust timing of firingpulses, since temperature affects the viscosity of the ink. A secondfeedback signal informs the controller how much voltage is available tothe actuator. This allows the controller to compensate for a flatbattery or high voltage source by adjusting the pulse width. A thirdfeedback signal informs the controller of the resistivity (Ohms persquare) of the actuator heater. This allows the controller to adjust thepulse widths to maintain a constant energy irrespective of the heaterresistivity. A fourth feedback signal informs the controller of thewidth of the critical part of the heater, which may vary up to ±5% dueto lithographic and etching variations. This allows the controller toadjust the pulse width appropriately.

A Load Cycle involves the loading up of the printhead with theinformation to be printed during the subsequent Print Cycle. The firingcontrol port of each nozzle may have an associated NozzleEnable bit thatdetermines whether or not the nozzle will fire during a Print Cycle. TheNozzleEnable bits are loaded during the load cycle via a set of shiftregisters. Once all the shift registers have been fully loaded, all ofthe bits are transferred in parallel to the appropriate NozzleEnablebits. Once the transfer has taken place, the Print Cycle can begin. ThePrint Cycle and the Load Cycle can occur simultaneously as long as theparallel load of all NozzleEnable bits occurs at the end of the PrintCycle.

The printing process must produce data in the correct sequence for theprinthead. As an example, a first Clock pulse may transfer the CMYK bitsfor the next Print Cycle's dot 0, 800, 1600, 2400, 3200, 4000, 4800, and5600. The second Clock pulse may transfer the CMYK bits for the nextPrint Cycle's dot 1, 801, 1601, 2401, 3201, 4001, 4801 and 5601. After800 SRClock pulses, the Transfer pulse can be given.

Of course, within the 800 SRClock pulses, the shift registers must beloaded according to the correspondence with the final transfer to theNozzleEnable bits, and here a number of different wiring possibilitiesexist. One loading (and hence wiring) possibility is to load the bits inpod order, and within each pod the bits representing each nozzle fromone side of the pod to the other (effectively loading the first nozzlefrom the first row through to the last row before moving on to thesecond nozzle in the first row). In a 2 row pod this means loading thenozzles in an apparant zig-zag fashion. Another possibility is to loadthe bits in pod order, and within each pod the bits representing eachrow, and within each row starting from the nozzle from one side of thepod to the other.

It is important to note that the odd and even CMYK outputs, althoughprinted during the same Print Cycle, do not appear on the same physicaloutput line. The physical separation of odd and even nozzles within theprinthead, as well as separation between nozzles of different colorsensures that they will produce dots on different lines of the page. Thisrelative difference must be accounted for when loading the data into theprinthead. The actual difference in lines depends on the characteristicsof the inkjet mechanism used in the printhead. The differences can bedefined by variables representing the distance between nozzles ofdifferent colors, and the distance between nozzles of the same color.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An example of a printer embodying the invention will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a table which illustrates the sustained printing rateachievable with double-buffering in the printer.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the conceptual data flow from applicationto printed page

FIG. 3 is a pictorial view of the iPrint printer in its closedconfiguration.

FIG. 4 is a pictorial view of the iPrint printer in its openconfiguration.

FIG. 5. is a cutaway diagram showing the paper path through the printer.

FIG. 6 is a pictorial cutaway view of a Memjet printhead cartridge andprinthead capping mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the Memjet printhead cartridge andprinthead capping mechanism of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a pictorial view of the printer controller.

FIG. 9 is an example of coding a simple black and white image.

FIG 10 is a schematic diagram of a pod of ten printing nozzles numberedin firing order.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the same pod of ten printing nozzlesnumbered in load order.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a chromapod.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a podgroup of five chromapods.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a phasegroup of two podgroups.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship betweenSegments, Firegroups, Phasegroups, Podgroups and Chromapods.

FIG. 16 is a phase diagram of the AEnable and BEnable lines during atypical Print Cycle.

FIG. 17 is a diagram of the Printer controller architecture.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart summarising the page expansion and printing dataflow.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of the EDRL expander unit.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of the EDRL stream decoder.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of the Runlength Decoder.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram of the Runlength Encoder.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of the JPEG decoder.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of the Halftoner/Compositor unit.

FIG. 25 is a series of page lines that show the relationships betweenpage widths and margins.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram of a Multi-threshold dither.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram of the logic of the Triple-threshold unit.

FIG. 28 is a block diagram of the internal structure of the PrintheadInterface.

FIG. 29 is a diagram of the conceptual overview of double bufferingduring print lines N+1.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram of the structure of the LLFU.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram of the conceptual structure of a Buffer.

FIG. 32 is a block diagram of the logical structure of a Buffer.

FIG. 33 is a block diagram of the generation of AEnable and BEnablePulse Widths.

FIG. 34 is a diagram of the Dot Count logic.

FIG. 35 is a block diagram of the speaker interface.

FIG. 36 is a diagram of a two-layer page buffer.

FIG. 37 is a series of diagrams showing the compositing of a blackobject onto a white image.

FIG. 38 is a series of diagrams showing the compositing of a contoneobject onto a white image.

FIG. 39 is a series of diagrams showing the compositing of a blackobject onto an image containing a contone object.

FIG. 40 is a series of diagrams showing the compositing of an opaquecontone object onto an image containing a black object.

FIG. 41 is a series of diagrams showing the compositing of a transparentcontone object onto an image containing a black object.

FIG. 42 is a block diagram of the Windows 9x/NT printing system withprinter driver components.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND OTHER EMBODIMENTS

1 Introduction

The invention will be described with reference to a high-performancecolor printer which combines photographic-quality image reproductionwith magazine-quality text reproduction. The printer utilizes an 8″page-width drop-on-demand microelectromechanical inkjet (“Memjet”)printhead which produces 1600 dots per inch (dpi) bi-level CMYK (Cyan,Magenta, Yellow, blacK). It prints 30 full-color A4 or Letter pages perminute, and is intended as an entry-level desktop printer. The printerhas been designated as iPrint and will be referred to by that name inthe following description.

1.1 Operational Overview

iPrint reproduces black text and graphics directly using bi-level black,and continuous-tone (contone) images and graphics using ditheredbi-level CMYK. For practical purposes, iPrint supports a blackresolution of 800 dpi, and a contone resolution of 267 pixels per inch(ppi).

iPrint is, in use, attached to a workstation or personal computer (PC)via a relatively low-speed (1.5 MBytes/s) universal serial bus (USB)connection [14]. iPrint relies on the PC to render each page to thelevel of contone pixels and black dots. The PC compresses each renderedpage to less than 3 MB for sub-two-second delivery to the printer.iPrint decompresses and prints the page line by line at the speed of theMemjet printhead. iPrint contains sufficient buffer memory for twocompressed pages (6 MB), allowing it to print one page while receivingthe next, but does not contain sufficient buffer memory for even asingle uncompressed page (119 MB).

1.2 Page Width

The standard Memjet nozzle layout has a half-inch unit cell, and so canbe trivially adapted to page widths which are multiples of half an inch.Arbitrary page widths can be achieved with custom nozzle layouts, inmarkets which justify such specialisation. The initial Memjet buildingblock is a widely useful four-inch printhead which makes efficient useof a six-inch silicon wafer. The iPrint design therefore assumes aneight-inch Memjet printhead, made up of two four-inch printheads joinedtogether. The use of a wider printhead to achieve full bleed onA4/Letter pages only affects a few aspects of the iPrintdesign—specifically the exact mechanical design, and the logic of theprinthead interface.

2 Memjet-Based Printing

A Memjet printhead produces 1600 dpi bi-level CMYK. On low-diffusionpaper, each ejected drop forms an almost perfectly circular 22.5 microndiameter dot. Dots are easily produced in isolation, allowingdispersed-dot dithering to be exploited to its fullest. Since the Memjetprinthead is page-width and operates with a constant paper velocity, thefour color planes are printed in perfect registration, allowing idealdot-on-dot printing. Since there is consequently no spatial interactionbetween color planes, the same dither matrix is used for each colorplane.

A page layout may contain a mixture of images, graphics and text.Continuous-tone (contone) images and graphics are reproduced using astochastic dispersed-dot dither. Unlike a clustered-dot (oramplitude-modulated) dither, a dispersed-dot (or frequency-modulated)dither reproduces high spatial frequencies (i.e. image detail) almost tothe limits of the dot resolution, while simultaneously reproducing lowerspatial frequencies to their full color depth. A stochastic dithermatrix is carefully designed to be free of objectionable low-frequencypatterns when tiled across the image. As such its size typically exceedsthe minimum size required to support a number of intensity levels (i.e.16×16×8 bits for 257 intensity levels). iPrint uses a dither volume ofsize 64×64×3×8 bits. The volume provides an extra degree of freedomduring the design of the dither by allowing a dot to change statesmultiple times through the intensity range (rather than just once as ina conventional dither matrix).

Human contrast sensitivity peaks at a spatial frequency of about 3cycles per degree of visual field and then falls off logarithmically,decreasing by a factor of 100 and becoming difficult to measure beyondabout 40 cycles per degree [2]. At a normal viewing distance of between400 mm and 250 mm, this translates roughly to 150-250 cycles per inch(cpi) on the printed page, or 300-500 samples per inch according toNyquist's theorem. Taking into account the fact that color sensitivityis less acute than grayscale sensitivity, contone resolution beyondabout 400 pixels per inch (ppi) is therefore of limited utility, and infact contributes slightly to color error through the dither.

Black text and graphics are reproduced directly using bi-level blackdots, and are therefore not antialiased (i.e. low-pass filtered) beforebeing printed. Text is therefore supersampled beyond the perceptuallimits discussed above, to produce smooth edges when spatiallyintegrated. Text resolution up to about 1200 dpi continues to contributeto perceived text sharpness (assuming low-diffusion paper, of course).

3.1 Constraints

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is the standard low-speed peripheralconnection on new PCs [4]. The standard high-speed peripheralconnection, IEEE 1394, is recommended but unfortunately still optionalin the PC 99 specification [5], and so may not be in widespread use wheniPrint is first launched. iPrint therefore connects to a personalcomputer (PC) or workstation via USB, and the speed of the USBconnection therefore imposes the most significant constraint on thearchitecture of the iPrint system. At a sustained printing rate of 30pages/minute, USB at 1.5 MByte/s imposes an average limit of 3 MB/page.Since the act of interrupting a Memjet-based printer during the printingof a page produces a visible discontinuity, it is advantageous for theprinter to receive the entire page before commencing printing, toeliminate the possibility of buffer underrun. Since the printer cancontain only limited buffer memory, i.e. two pages' worth or 6 MB, thenthe 3 MB/page limit must be considered absolute.

FIG. 1 illustrates the sustained printing rate achievable withdouble-buffering in the printer. The first stage 1 requires the firstpage to be rendered in the PC, and this takes up to two seconds. Duringthe second stage 2 the next page is rendered and the first page istransferred to the printer, again this takes up to two seconds. In thethird stage 3 the first page is printed, the second page is transferredand a third page is rendered, this takes two seconds. As a result ittakes up to six seconds for the first page to be printed and thereaftera page can be printed every two seconds.

Other desktop connection options provide similar bandwidth to USB, andso impose similar constraints on the architecture. These include theparallel port at 2 MB/s, and 10Base-T Ethernet at around 1 MB/s.

3.2 Page Rendering and Compression

Page rendering (or rasterization) can be split between the PC andprinter in various ways. Some printers support a full page descriptionlanguage (PDL) such as Postscript, and contain correspondinglysophisticated renderers. Other printers provide special support only forrendering text, to achieve high text resolution. This usually includessupport for built-in or downloadable fonts. In each case the use of anembedded renderer reduces the rendering burden on the PC and reduces theamount of data transmitted from the PC to the printer. However, thiscomes at a price. These printers are more complex than they might be,and are often unable to provide full support for the graphics system ofthe PC, through which application programs construct, render and printpages. They often fail to exploit the high performance of current PCs,and are unable to leverage projected exponential growth in PCperformance.

iPrint relies on the PC 4 to render pages, i.e. contone images andgraphics to the pixel level, and black text and graphics to the dotlevel. iPrint 5 contains only a simple rendering engine which dithersthe contone data and combines the results with any foreground bi-levelblack text and graphics. This strategy keeps the printer simple, andindependent of any page description language or graphics system. Itfully exploits the high performance of current PCs. The downside of thisstrategy is the potentially large amount of data which must betransmitted from the PC to the printer. We consequently use compressionto reduce this data to the 3 MB/page required to allow a sustainedprinting rate of 30 pages/minute.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the conceptual data flow from anapplication 6 to a printed page 7.

An 8″ by 11.7″ A4 page has a bi-level CMYK pagesize of 114.3 MBytes at1600 dpi, and a contone CMYK pagesize of 32.1 MB at 300 ppi.

In the printer driver 8, we use JPEG compression 9 to compress thecontone data. Although JPEG is inherently lossy, for compression ratiosof 10:1 or less the loss is usually negligible [16]. To obtain anintegral contone to bi-level ratio, and to provide some compressionleeway, we choose a contone resolution of 267 ppi. This yields a contoneCMYK pagesize of 25.5 MB, a corresponding compression ratio of 8.5:1 tofit within the 3 MB/page limit, and a contone to bi-level ratio of 1:6in each dimension.

A full page of black text (and/or graphics) rasterized at printerresolution (1600 dpi) yields a bi-level image of 28.6 MB. Sincerasterizing text at 1600 dpi places a heavy burden on the PC for a smallgain, we choose to rasterize text at a fully acceptable 800 dpi. Thisyields a bi-level image of 7. 1 MB, requiring a lossless compressionratio of less than 2.5:1 to fit within the 3 MB1page limit. We achievethis with a two-dimensional compression scheme adapted from Group 4Facsimile, all indicated generally at 10.

As long as the image and text regions of a page are non-lapping anycombination of the two fits within the 3 MB limit. If text lies on topof a background image, then the worst case is a compressed pagesizeapproaching 6 MB (depending on the actual text compression ratio). Thisfits within the printer's page buffer memory, but preventsdouble-buffering of pages in the printer, thereby reducing the printer'spage rate by two-thirds, i.e. to 10 pages/minute.

3.3 Page Expansion and Printing

As described above, the PC renders contone images and graphics to thepixel level, and black text and graphics to the dot level. These arecompressed 11 by different means and transmitted together to theprinter.

The printer contains two 3 MB page buffers—one 12 for the page beingreceived from the PC, and one 13 for the page being printed. The printerexpands the compressed page as it is being printed. This expansionconsists of decompressing the 267 ppi contone CMYK image data 14,halftoning the resulting contone pixels to 1600 dpi bi-level CMYK dots15, decompressing the 800 dpi bi-level black text data 16, andcompositing the resulting bi-level black text dots over thecorresponding bi-level CMYK image dots 17.

The conceptual data flow from the application to the printed page isillustrated in FIG. 2.

4 Printer Hardware

Because of the simplicity of the page width Memjet printhead, iPrint isvery compact. It measures just 270 mm wide×85 mm deep×77 mm high whenclosed. FIG. 3 is a pictorial view of the iPrint 21 when closed.

The cover 22 opens to form part of the paper tray, as shown in FIG. 4. Asecond part 23 is hinged within cover 22 and opens to extend the papertray. A paper exit tray 24 is slideably extendable from the front of theprinter.

The front panel 25, revealed when cover 22 is opened, contains the userinterface—the power button 26 and power indicator LED 27, the paper feedbutton 28, and the out-of-paper 29 and ink low 30 LEDs.

4.1 Paper Path

iPrint uses a standard paper transport mechanism. The paper path 50 isillustrated in FIG. 5, in which a single stepper motor 51 drives boththe sheet feed roller 52 and the paper transport. When running in theforward direction the stepper motor drives the paper drive roller 53 andthe pinch wheels 54 at the start and end of the active paper path,respectively. When reversed, the stepper motor drives the sheet feedroller 52 which grabs the topmost sheet from the sheet feeder andtransports it the short distance to the paper drive roller 53 where itis detected by the mechanical media sensor 55.

The paper centering sliders 56 ensure that the paper is centered. Thisensures that a single centered media sensor detects the sheet, and alsoensures that sheets wider than the printhead are printed with balancedmargins.

4.1.1 Memjet Printhead

The replaceable Memjet printhead cartridge 60 is also shown in FIG. 5.This represents one of the four possible ways to deploy the printhead inconjunction with the ink cartridge in a product such as iPrint:

permanent printhead, replaceable ink cartridge (as shown here)

separate replaceable printhead and ink cartridges

refillable combined printhead and ink cartridge

disposable combined printhead and ink cartridge

Under the printhead cartridge 60 is a printhead assembly 61 and aprinthead capping mechanism 62, illustrated in pictorial cut away viewin FIG. 6 and in section in FIG. 7. When not in use, the Memjetprinthead 63 remains filled with ink, and so must be capped to preventevaporation of ink through the nozzles. Ink evaporation can lead togradual deposition of ink components which can impair nozzle operation.

iPrint includes a mechanical page width capping mechanism 62 whichconsists of a pivoting capping molding 64 with an elastomeric seal 65and sponge 66. When the printhead is not in use, the capping molding 64is held by a spring against the face of the printhead assembly 61, andthe elastomeric seal 65 conforms to the face of the printhead assemblyand creates an airtight seal around the printhead 63. The sponge 66 isused to catch drops ejected during the printhead cleaning cycle. Whenthe printhead is in use, the capping molding 64 is held away from theprinthead assembly 61 and out of the paper path.

The capping molding 64 is offset by a set of flexible arms 68 from a rod69. The capping molding 64 and arms 68 pivot with the rod 69 about itsaxis. A slip wheel 70 is mounted at the end of rod 69. The slip wheel 70makes contact with a drive wheel 71. When printing is occurring, thedrive wheel 71 is coupled to the paper transport motor and is driven inthe uncapping direction 72. This causes the slip wheel 70 and rod 69 torotate about its axis and swings the capping molding 64 away from theprinthead. Once the slip wheel rotates to the uncapping slip point 73,the slip wheel and the capping molding stop rotating. When printing iscomplete, the drive wheel is reversed and driven in the cappingdirection 74. Once the slip wheel rotates to the capping slip point 75,the slip wheel and the capping molding stop rotating, and the cappingspring holds the capping plate in place against the face of theprinthead assembly. The flexible arms 68 help the capping plate 67conform to the face of the printhead assembly 61.

4.2 Printer Controller

The printer controller 80 is illustrated in FIG. 8, and consists of asmall PCB 81 with only a few components—a 64 Mbit RDRAM 82, the iPrintCentral Processor (ICP) chip 83, a speaker 84 for notifying the user oferror conditions, a QA chip 85, an external 3V DC power connection 86,an external USB connection 87, a connection to the paper transportstepper motor 88, and the flex PCB 89 which connects to the media sensor5S, LEDs 7, 9 and 10, buttons 6 and 8, and a link 90 the printhead 63.

4.3 Ink Cartridge and Ink Path

There are two versions of the ink cartridge—one large, one small. Bothfit in the same ink cartridge slot at the back of the iPrint unit.

5 Printer Control Protocol

This section describes the printer control protocol used between a hostand iPrint. It includes control and status handling as well as theactual page description.

5.1 Control and Status

The USB device class definition for printers [15] provides for emulationof both unidirectional and bidirectional IEEE 1284 parallel ports [3].At its most basic level, this allows the host to determine printercapabilities (via GET_DEVICE_ID), obtain printer status (viaGET_PORT_STATUS), and reset the printer (via SOFT_RESET).Centronics/IEEE 1284 printer status fields are described in Table 1below.

TABLE 1 Centronics/IEEE 1284 printer status field description Select Theprinter is selected and available for data transfer. Paper Empty A paperempty condition exists in the printer. Fault A fault condition exists inthe printer (includes Paper Empty and not Select).

Personal computer printing subsystems typically provide some level ofIEEE 1284 support. Compatibility with IEEE 1284 in a printer thereforesimplifies the development of the corresponding printer driver. The USBdevice class definition for printers seeks to leverage this samecompatibility.

iPrint supports no control protocol beyond the USB device classdefinition for printers. Note that, if a higher-level control protocolwere defined, then conditions such as out-of-ink could also be reportedto the user (rather than just via the printer's out-of-ink LED).

iPrint receives page descriptions as raw transfers, i.e. notencapsulated in any higher-level control protocol.

5.2 Page Description

iPrint reproduces black at full dot resolution (1600 dpi), butreproduces contone color at a somewhat lower resolution usinghalftoning. The page description is therefore divided into a black layerand a contone layer. The black layer is defined to composite over thecontone layer.

The black layer consists of a bitmap containing a 1-bit opacity for eachpixel. This black layer matte has a resolution which is an integerfactor of the print's dot resolution. The highest supported resolutionis 1600 dpi, i.e. the print's full dot resolution.

The contone layer consists of a bitmap containing a 32-bit CMYK colorfor each pixel. This contone image has a resolution which is an integerfactor of the print's dot resolution. The highest supported resolutionis 267 ppi, i.e. one-sixth the print's dot resolution.

The contone resolution is also typically an integer factor of the blackresolution, to simplify calculations in the printer driver. This is nota requirement, however.

The black layer and the contone layer are both in compressed form forefficient transmission over the low-speed USB connection to the printer.

5.2.1 Page Structure

iPrint has a printable page area which is determined by the width of itsprinthead, the characteristics of its paper path, and the size of thecurrently selected print medium.

The printable page area has a maximum width of 8″. If the physical pagewidth exceeds 8″, then symmetric left and right margins are implicitlycreated. If the physical page width is less than 8″, then the printablepage width is reduced accordingly. The printable page area has nomaximum length. It is simply the physical page length, less the top andbottom margins imposed by the characteristics of the paper path.

The target page size is constrained by the printable page area, less theexplicit (target) left and top margins specified in the pagedescription.

In theory iPrint does not impose a top or bottom margin—i.e. it allowsfull bleed in the vertical direction. In practice, however, since iPrintis not designed as a full-bleed A4/Letter printer because it uses an 8″printhead, an artificial top and bottom margin is imposed to avoidhaving to include a sponge large enough to cope with regular off-edgeprinting.

5.2.2 Page Description Format

Table 2 shows the format of the page description expected by iPrint.

TABLE 2 Page description format field format description signature16-bit integer Page description format signature. version 16-bit integerPage description format version number. structure size 16-bit integerSize of fixed-size part of page description. target 16-bit integerResolution of target page. This is resolution always 1600 for iPrint.(dpi) target page 16-bit integer Width of target page, in dots. widthtarget page 16-bit integer Height of target page, in dots. height targetleft 16-bit integer Width of target left margin, in dots. margin targettop 16-bit integer Height of target top margin, in dots. margin blackscale 16-bit integer Scale factor from black resolution to factor targetresolution (must be 2 or greater). black page 16-bit integer Width ofblack page, in black pixels. width black page 16-bit integer Height ofblack page, in black pixels. height black page data 32-bit integer Sizeof black page data, in bytes. size contone scale 16-bit integer Scalefactor from contone resolution to factor target resolution (must be 6 orgreater). contone page 16-bit integer Width of contone page, in contonewidth pixels. contone page 16-bit integer Height of contone page, incontone height pixels. contone page 32-bit integer Size of contone pagedata, in bytes. data size black page data EDRL Compressed bi-level blackpage data. bytestream contone page JPEG Compressed contone CMYK pagedata. data bytestream

Apart from being implicitly defined in relation to the printable pagearea, each page description is complete and self-contained. There is nodata transmitted to the printer separately from the page description towhich the page description refers.

The page description contains a signature and version which allow theprinter to identify the page description format. If the signature and/orversion are missing or incompatible with the printer, then the printercan reject the page.

The page description defines the resolution and size of the target page.The black and contone layers are clipped to the target page ifnecessary. This happens whenever the black or contone scale factors arenot factors of the target page width or height.

The target left and top margins define the positioning of the targetpage within the printable page area.

The black layer parameters define the pixel size of the black layer, itsinteger scale factor to the target resolution, and the size of itscompressed page data. The variable-size black page data follows thefixed-size parts of the page description.

The contone layer parameters define the pixel size of the contone layer,its integer scale factor to the target resolution, and the size of itscompressed page data. The variable-size contone page data follows thevariable-size black page data.

All integers in the page description are stored in big-endian byteorder.

The variable-size black page data and the variable-size contone pagedata are aligned to 8-byte boundaries. The size of the required paddingis included in the size of the fixed-size part of the page descriptionstructure and the variable-size black data.

The entire page description has a target size of less than 3 MB, and amaximum size of 6 MB, in accordance with page buffer memory in theprinter.

The following sections describe the format of the compressed black layerand the compressed contone layer.

5.2.3 Bi-level Black Layer Compression

5.2.3.1 Group 3 and 4 Facsimile Compression

The Group 3 Facsimile compression algorithm [1] losslessly compressesbi-level data for transmission over slow and noisy telephone lines. Thebi-level data represents scanned black text and graphics on a whitebackground, and the algorithm is tuned for this class of images (it isexplicitly not tuned, for example, for halfsoned bi-level images). TheID Group 3 algorithm runlength-encodes each scanline and thenHuffman-encodes the resulting runlengths. Runlengths in the range 0 to63 are coded with terminating codes. Runlengths in the range 64 to 2623are coded with make-up codes, each representing a multiple of 64,followed by a terminating code. Runlengths exceeding 2623 are coded withmultiple make-up codes followed by a terminating code. The Huffmantables are fixed, but are separately tuned for black and white runs(except for make-up codes above 1728, which are common). When possible,the 2D Group 3 algorithm encodes a scanline as a set of short edgedeltas (0, ±1, ±2, ±3) with reference to the previous scanline. Thedelta symbols are entropy-encoded (so that the zero delta symbol is onlyone bit long etc.) Edges within a 2D-encoded line which can't bedelta-encoded are runlength-encoded, and are identified by a prefix. 1D-and 2D-encoded lines are marked differently. 1D-encoded lines aregenerated at regular intervals, whether actually required or not, toensure that the decoder can recover from line noise with minimal imagedegradation. 2D Group 3 achieves compression ratios of up to 6:1 [13].

The Group 4 Facsimile algorithm [1] losslessly compresses bi-level datafor transmission over error-free communications lines (i.e. the linesare truly error-free, or error-correction is done at a lower protocollevel). The Group 4 algorithm is based on the 2D Group 3 algorithm, withthe essential modification that since transmission is assumed to beerror-free, 1D-encoded lines are no longer generated at regularintervals as an aid to error-recovery. Group 4 achieves compressionratios ranging from 20:1 to 60:1 for the CCITT set of test images [13].

The design goals and performance of the Group 4 compression algorithmqualify it as a compression algorithm for the bi-level black layer.However, its Huffman tables are tuned to a lower scanning resolution(100-400 dpi), and it encodes runlengths exceeding 2623 awkwardly. At800 dpi, our maximum runlength is currently 6400. Although a Group 4decoder core might be available for use in the printer controller chip(Section 7), it might not handle runlengths exceeding those normallyencountered in 400 dpi facsimile applications, and so would requiremodification.

Since most of the benefit of Group 4 comes from the delta-encoding, asimpler algorithm based on delta-encoding alone is likely to meet ourrequirements. This approach is described in detail below.

5.2.3.2 Bi-Level Edge Delta and Runlength (EDRL) Compression Format

The edge delta and runlength (EDRL) compression format is based looselyon the Group 4 compression format and its precursors [1][17].

EDRL uses three kinds of symbols, appropriately entropy-coded. These arecreate edge, kill edge, and edge delta. Each line is coded withreference to its predecessor. The predecessor of the first line isdefined to a line of white. Each line is defined to start off white. Ifa line actually starts of black (the less likely situation), then itmust define a black edge at offset zero. Each line must define an edgeat its left-hand end, i.e. at offset page width.

An edge can be coded with reference to an edge in the previous line ifthere is an edge within the maximum delta range with the same sense(white-to-black or black-to-white). This uses one of the edge deltacodes. The shorter and likelier deltas have the shorter codes. Themaximum delta range (±2) is chosen to match the distribution of deltasfor typical glyph edges. This distribution is mostly independent ofpoint size. A typical example is given in Table 3.

TABLE 3 Edge delta distribution for 10 point Times at 800 dpi |delta|probability 0 65% 1 23% 2  7% ≧3  5%

An edge can also be coded using the length of the run from the previousedge in the same line. This uses one of the create edge codes for short(7-bit) and long (13-bit) runlengths. For simplicity, and unlike Group4, runlengths are not entropy-coded. In order to keep edge deltasimplicitly synchronised with edges in the previous line, each unusededge in the previous line is ‘killed’ when passed in the current line.This uses the kill edge code. The end-of-page code signals the end ofthe page to the decoder.

Note that 7-bit and 13-bit runlengths are specifically chosen to support800 dpi A4/Letter pages. Longer runlengths could be supported withoutsignificant impact on compression performance. For example, ifsupporting 1600 dpi compression, the runlengths should be at least 8-bitand 14-bit respectively. A general-purpose choice might be 8-bit and16-bit, thus supporting up to 40″ wide 1600 dpi pages.

The full set of codes is defined in Table 4. Note that there is noend-of-line code. The decoder uses the page width to detect the end ofthe line. The lengths of the codes are ordered by the relativeprobabilities of the codes' occurrence.

TABLE 4 EDRL codewords code encoding suffix description Δ0 1 — don'tmove corresponding edge Δ + 1 010 — move corresponding edge +1 Δ − 1 011— move corresponding edge −1 Δ + 2 00010 — move corresponding edge +2 Δ− 2 00011 — move corresponding edge −2 kill edge 0010 — killcorresponding edge create near edge 0011  7-bit RL create edge fromshort runlength (RL) create far edge 00001 13-bit RL create edge fromlong runlength (RL) end-of-page 000001 — end-of-page marker (EOP)

FIG. 9 shows an example of coding a simple black and white image 90. Theimage is arranged as lines 91 of pixels 92. The first line 91 is assumedto be white and, since it is, is coded as ΔO. Note that the commonsituation of an all-white line following another all-white line is codedusing a single bit (Δ0), and an all-black line following anotherall-black line is coded using two bits (Δ0, Δ0). Where an edge occurs ina line, such as the fourth line 93, the create code is used to definethe edges. In the next line 94, the Δ-1 and Δ+1 codes are used to movethe edges. In the next line 95, it is more convenient to create a newedge and kill the old edge rather than move it.

EDRL ENCODING EXAMPLE

Note that the foregoing describes the compression format, not thecompression algorithm per se. A variety of equivalent encodings can beproduced for the same image, some more compact than others. For example,a pure runlength encoding conforms to the compression format. The goalof the compression algorithm is to discover a good, if not the best,encoding for a given image. The following is a simple algorithm forproducing the EDRL encoding of a line with reference to its predecessor.

#define SHORT_RUN_PRECISION7 // precision of short run #defineLONG_RUN_PRECISION13 // precision of long run EDRL_CompressLine ( ByteprevLine[], // previous (reference) bi-level line Byte currLine[], //current (coding) bi-level line int lineLen, // line length BITSTREAM s// output (compressed) bitstream ) int prevEdge = 0 // current edgeoffset in previous line int currEdge = 0 // current edge offset incurrent line int codedEdge = currEdge // most recent coded (output) edgeint prevColor = 0 // current color in previous line (0 = white) intcurrColor = 0 // current color in current line int prevRun // currentrun in previous line int currRun // current run in current line boolbUpdatePrevEdge = true // force first edge update bool bUpdateCurrEdge =true // force first edge update while (codedEdge < lineLen) // possiblyupdate current edge in previous line if (bUpdatePrevEdge) if (prevEdge <lineLen) prevRun = GetRun(prevLine, prevEdge, lineLen, prevColor) elseprevRun = 0 prevEdge += prevRun prevColor = !prevColor bUpdatePrevEdge =false // possibly update current edge in current line if(bUpdateCurrEdge) if (currEdge < lineLen) currRun = GetRun(currLine,currEdge, lineLen, currColor) else currRun = 0 currEdge += currRuncurrColor = !currColor bUpdateCurrEdge = false // output delta wheneverpossible, i.e. when // edge senses match, and delta is small enough if(prevColor == currColor) delta = currEdge - prevEdge if (abs(delta) <=MAX_DELTA) PutCode(s EDGE_DELTA0 + delta) codedEdge = currEdgebUpdatePrevEdge = true bUpdateCurrEdge = true continue // kill unmatchededge in previous line if (prevEdge <= currEdge) PutCode(s KILL_EDGE)bUpdatePrevEdge = true // create unmatched edge in current line if(currEdge <= prevEdge) PutCode(s, CREATE_EDGE) if(currRun < 128)PutCode(s, CREATE_NEAR_EDGE) PutBits(currRun, SHORT_RUN_PRECISION) elsePutCode(s, CREATE_FAR_EDGE) PutBits(currRun, LONG_RUN_PRECISION)codedEdge = currEdge bUpdateCurrEdge = true

Note that the algorithm is blind to actual edge continuity betweenlines, and may in fact match the “wrong” edges between two lines.Happily the compression format has nothing to say about this, since itdecodes correctly, and it is difficult for a “wrong” match to have adetrimental effect on the compression ratio.

For completeness the corresponding decompression algorithm is givenbelow. It forms the core of the EDRL Expander unit in the printercontroller chip (Section 7).

EDRL_DecompressLine ( BITSTREAM s, // input (compressed) bitstream ByteprevLine[], // previous (reference) bi-level line Byte currLine[], //current (coding) bi-level line int lineLen // line length ) int prevEdge= 0 // current edge offset in previous line int currEdge = 0 // currentedge offset in current line int prevColor = 0 // current color inprevious line (0 = white) int currColor = 0 // current color in currentline while (currEdge < lineLen) code = GetCode(s) switch (code) caseEDGE_DELTA_MINUS2: case EDGE_DELTA_MINUS1: case EDGE_DELTA_0: caseEDGE_DELTA_PLUS1: case EDGE_DELTA_PLUS2: // create edge from delta intdelta = code - EDGE_DELTA_0 int run = prevEdge + delta - currEdgeFillBitRun(currLine, currEdge, currColor, run) currEdge += run currColor= !currColor prevEdge += GetRun(prevLine, prevEdge, lineLen, prevColor)prevColor = !prevColor case KILL_EDGE: // discard unused reference edgeprevEdge += GetRun(prevLine, prevEdge, lineLen, prevColor) prevColor =!prevColor case CREATE_NEAR_EDGE: case CREATE_FAR_EDGE: // create edgeexplicitly int run if(code == CREATE_NEAR_EDGE) run = GetBits(s,SHORT_RUN_PRECISION) else run = GetBits(s, LONG_RUN_PRECISION)FillBitRun(currLine, currEdge, currColor, run) currColor = !currColorcurrEdge += run

5.2.3.3 EDRL Compression Performance

Table 5 shows the compression performance of Group 4 and EDRL on theCCITT test documents used to select the Group 4 algorithm. Each documentrepresents a single page scanned at 400 dpi. Group 4's superiorperformance is due to its entropy-coded runlenghts, tuned to 400 dpifeatures.

TABLE 5 Group 4 and EDRL compression performance on standard CCITTTdocuments at 400 dpi CCITT document number Group 4 compression ratioEDRL compression ratio 1 29.1 21.6 2 49.9 41.3 3 17.9 14.1 4 7.3 5.5 515.8 12.4 6 31.0 25.5 7 7.4 5.3 8 26.7 23.4

Magazine text is typically typeset in a typeface with serifs (such asTimes) at a point size of 10. At this size an A4/Letter page holds up to14,000 characters, though a typical magazine page holds only about 7,000characters. Text is seldom typeset at a point size smaller than 5. At800 dpi, text cannot be meaningfully rendered at a point size lower than2 using a standard typeface. Table 6 illustrates the legibility ofvarious

TABLE 6 Text at different point sizes point size sample text (in Times)8 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 9 The quick brown foxjumps over the lazy dog. 10 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Table 7 shows Group 4 and EDRL compression performance on pages of textof varying point sizes, rendered at 800 dpi. Note that EDRL achieves therequired compression ratio of 2.5 for an entire page of text typeset ata point size of 3. The distribution of characters on the test pages isbased on English-language statistics [12].

TABLE 7 Group 4 and EDRL compression performance on text at 800 dpicharacters/A4 Group 4 compression EDRL point size page ratio compressionratio 2 340,000 2.3 1.7 3 170,000 3.2 2.5 4 86,000 4.7 3.8 5 59,000 5.54.9 6 41,000 6.5 6.1 7 28,000 7.7 7.4 8 21,000 9.1 9.0 9 17,000 10.210.4 10 14,000 10.9 11.3 11 12,000 11.5 12.4 12 8,900 13.5 14.8 13 8,20013.5 15.0 14 7,000 14.6 16.6 15 5,800 16.1 18.5 20 3,400 19.8 23.9

For a point size of 9 or greater, EDRL slightly outperforms Group 4,simply because Group 4's runlength codes are tuned to 400 dpi.

These compression results bear out the observation that entropy-encodedrunlengths contribute much less to compression than 2D encoding, unlessthe data is poorly correlated vertically, such as in the case of verysmall characters.

5.2.4 Contone Layer Compression

5.2.4.1 JPEG Compression

The JPEG compression algorithm [6] lossily compresses a contone image ata specified quality level. It introduces imperceptible image degradationat compression ratios below 5:1, and negligible image degradation atcompression ratios below 10:1 [16].

JPEG typically first transforms the image into a color space whichseparates luminance and chrominance into separate color channels. Thisallows the chrominance channels to be subsampled without appreciableloss because of the human visual system's relatively greater sensitivityto luminance than chrominance. After this first step, each color channelis compressed separately.

The image is divided into 8×8 pixel blocks. Each block is thentransformed into the frequency domain via a discrete cosine transform(DCT). This transformation has the effect of concentrating image energyin relatively lower-frequency coefficients, which allowshigher-frequency coefficients to be more crudely quantized. Thisquantization is the principal source of compression in JPEG. Furthercompression is achieved by ordering coefficients by frequency tomaximise the likelihood of adjacent zero coefficients, and thenrunlength-encoding runs of zeroes. Finally, the runlengths and non-zerofrequency coefficients are entropy coded. Decompression is the inverseprocess of compression.

5.2.4.2 CMYK Contone JPEG Compression Format

The CMYK contone layer is compressed to an interleaved color JPEGbytestream. The interleaving is required for space-efficientdecompression in the printer, but may restrict the decoder to two setsof Huffman tables rather than four (i.e. one per color channel) [16]. Ifluminance and chrominance are separated, then the luminance channels canshare one set of tables, and the chrominance channels the other set.

If luminance/chrominance separation is deemed necessary, either for thepurposes of table sharing or for chrominance subsampling, then CMY isconverted to YCrCb and Cr and Cb are duly subsampled. K is treated as aluminance channel and is not subsampled.

The JPEG bytestream is complete and self-contained. It contains all datarequired for decompression, including quantization and Huffman tables.

6 Memjet Printhead

An 8-inch Memjet printhead consists of two standard 4-inch Memjetprintheads joined together side by side.

The two 4-inch printheads are wired up together in a specific way foruse in iPrint. Since the wiring requires knowledge of the 4-inchprinthead, an overview of the 4-inch printhead is presented here.

6.1 Composition of a 4-inch Printhead

Each 4-inch printhead consists of 8 segments, each segment ½ an inch inlength. Each of the segments prints bi-level cyan, magenta, yellow andblack dots over a different part of the page to produce the final image.

Since the printhead prints dots at 1600 dpi, each dot is approximately22.5 microns in diameter, and spaced 15.875 microns apart. Thus eachhalf-inch segment prints 800 dots, with the 8 segments corresponding tothe positions shown in Table 8.

TABLE 8 Final image dots addressed by each segment Printhead 1 Printhead2 Segment First dot Last dot First dot Last dot 0 0 799 6,400 7,199 1800 1,599 7,200 7,999 2 1,600 2,399 8,000 8,799 3 2,400 3,199 8,8009,599 4 3,200 3,999 9,600 10,399 5 4,000 4,799 10,400 11,199 6 4,8005,599 11,200 11,999 7 5,600 6,399 12,000 12,799

Although each segment produces 800 dots of the final image, each dot isrepresented by a combination of bi-level cyan, magenta, yellow and blackink. Because the printing is bi-level, the input image should bedithered or error-diffused for best results.

Each segment then contains 3,200 nozzles: 800 each of cyan, magenta,yellow and black. A four-inch printhead contains 8 such segments for atotal of 25,600 nozzles.

6.1.1 Grouping of Nozzles Within a Segment

The nozzles within a single segment are grouped for reasons of physicalstability as well as minimization of power consumption during printing.In terms of physical stability, a total of 10 nozzles share the same inkreservoir. In terms of power consumption, groupings are made to enable alow-speed and a high-speed printing mode.

The printhead supports two printing speeds to allow speed/powerconsumption trade-offs to be made in different product configurations.

In the low-speed printing mode, 128 nozzles are fired simultaneouslyfrom each 4-printhead. The fired nozzles should be maximally distant, so16 nozzles are fired from each segment. To fire all 25,600 nozzles, 200different sets of 128 nozzles must be fired.

In the high-speed printing mode, 256 nozzles are fired simultaneouslyfrom each 4-inch printhead. The fired nozzles should be maximallydistant, so 32 nozzles are fired from each segment. To fire all 25,600nozzles, 100 different sets of 256 nozzles must be fired.

The power consumption in the low-speed mode is half that of thehigh-speed mode. Note, however, that the energy consumed to print a pageis the same in both cases.

6.1.1.1 Ten Nozzles Make a Pod

A single pod 100 consists of 10 nozzles 101 sharing a common inkreservoir. 5 nozzles are in one row, and 5 are in another. Each nozzleproduces dots 22.5 microns in diameter spaced on a 15.875 micron grid.FIG. 10 shows the arrangement of a single pod 100, with the nozzles 101numbered according to the order in which they must be fired.

Although the nozzles are fired in this order, the relationship ofnozzles and physical placement of dots on the printed page is different.The nozzles from one row represent the even dots from one line on thepage, and the nozzles on the other row represent the odd dots from theadjacent line on the page. FIG. 11 shows the same pod 100 with thenozzles numbered according to the order in which they must be loaded.

The nozzles within a pod are therefore logically separated by the widthof 1 dot. The exact distance between the nozzles will depend on theproperties of the Memjet firing mechanism. The printhead is designedwith staggered nozzles designed to match the flow of paper.

6.1.1.2 One Pod of Each Color Makes a Chromapod

One pod of each color, that is cyan 121, magenta 122, yellow 123 andblack 124, are grouped into a chromapod 125. A chromapod representsdifferent color components of the same horizontal set of 10 dots ondifferent lines. The exact distance between different color pods dependson the Memjet operating parameters, and may vary from one Memjet designto another. The distance is considered to be a constant number ofdot-widths, and must therefore be taken into account when printing: thedots printed by the cyan nozzles will be for different lines than thoseprinted by the magenta, yellow or black nozzles. The printing algorithmmust allow for a variable distance up to about 8 dot-widths betweencolors. FIG. 12 illustrates a single chromapod.

6.1.1.3 Five Chromapods Make a Podgroup

5 chromapods 125 are organized into a single podgroup 126. Since eachchromapod contains 40 nozzles, each podgroup contains 200 nozzles: 50cyan, 50 magenta, 50 yellow, and 50 black nozzles. The arrangement isshown in FIG. 13, with chromapods numbered 0-4. Note that the distancebetween adjacent chromapods is exaggerated for clarity.

6.1.1.4 Two Podgroups Make a Phasegroup

2 podgroups 126 are organized into a single phasegroup 127. Thephasegroup is so named because groups of nozzles within a phasegroup arefired simultaneously during a given firing phase (this is explained inmore detail below). The formation of a phasegroup from 2 podgroups isentirely for the purposes of low-speed and high-speed printing via 2PodgroupEnable lines.

During low-speed printing, only one of the two PodgroupEnable lines isset in a given firing pulse, so only one podgroup of the two firesnozzles. During high-speed printing, both PodgroupEnable lines are set,so both podgroups fire nozzles. Consequently a low-speed print takestwice as long as a high-speed print, since the high-speed print firestwice as many nozzles at once.

FIG. 14 illustrates the composition of a phasegroup. The distancebetween adjacent podgroups is exaggerated for clarity.

6.1.1.5 Two Phasegroups Make a Firegroup

Two phasegroups 127 (PhasegroupA and PhasegroupB) are organized into asingle firegroup 128, with 4 firegroups in each segment 129. Firegroupsare so named because they all fire the same nozzles simultaneously. Twoenable lines, AEnable and BEnable, allow the firing of PhasegroupAnozzles and PhasegroupB nozzles independently as different firingphases. The arrangement is shown in FIG. 15. The distance betweenadjacent groupings is exaggerated for clarity.

5 6.1.1.6 Nozzle Grouping Summary

Table 9 is a summary of the nozzle groupings in a printhead.

TABLE 9 Nozzle Groupings for a single 4-inch printhead Name ofReplication Nozzle Grouping Composition Ratio Count Nozzle Base unit 1:11 Pod Nozzles per pod 10:1  10 Chromapod Pods per CMYK chromapod 4:1 40Podgroup Chromapods per podgroup 5:1 200 Phasegroup Podgroups perphasegroup 2:1 400 Firegroup Phasegroups per firegroup 2:1 800 SegmentFiregroups per segment 4:1 3,200 4-inch printhead Segments per 4-inch8:1 25,600 printhead

An 8-inch printhead consists of two 4-inch printheads for a total of51,200 nozzles.

6.1.2 Load and Print Cycles

A single 4-inch printhead contains a total of 25,600 nozzles. A PrintCycle involves the firing of up to all of these nozzles, dependent onthe information to be printed. A Load Cycle involves the loading up ofthe printhead with the information to be printed during the subsequentPrint Cycle.

Each nozzle has an associated NozzleEnable bit that determines whetheror not the nozzle will fire during the Print Cycle. The NozzleEnablebits (one per nozzle) are loaded via a set of shift registers.

Logically there are 4 shift registers per segment (one per color), each800 deep. As bits are shifted into the shift register for a given colorthey are directed to the lower and upper nozzles on alternate pulses.Internally, each 800-deep shift register is comprised of two 400-deepshift registers: one for the upper nozzles, and one for the lowernozzles. Alternate bits are shifted into the alternate internalregisters. As far as the external interface is concerned however, thereis a single 800 deep shift register.

Once all the shift registers have been fully loaded (800 load pulses),all of the bits are transferred in parallel to the appropriateNozzleEnable bits. This equates to a single parallel transfer of 25,600bits. Once the transfer has taken place, the Print Cycle can begin. ThePrint Cycle and the Load Cycle can occur simultaneously as long as theparallel load of all NozzleEnable bits occurs at the end of the PrintCycle.

6.1.2.1 Load Cycle

The Load Cycle is concerned with loading the printhead's shift registerswith the next Print Cycle's NozzleEnable bits.

Each segment has 4 inputs directly related to the cyan, magenta, yellowand black shift registers. These inputs are called CDataIn, MDataIn,YDataln and -KDataIn. Since there are 8 segments, there are a total of32 color input lines per 4-inch printhead. A single pulse on the SRCIockline (shared between all 8 segments) transfers the 32 bits into theappropriate shift registers. Alternate pulses transfer bits to the lowerand upper nozzles respectively. Since there are 25,600 nozzles, a totalof 800 pulses are required for the transfer. Once all 25,600 bits havebeen transferred, a single pulse on the shared PTransfer line causes theparallel transfer of data from the shift registers to the appropriateNozzleEnable bits.

The parallel transfer via a pulse on PTransfer must take place after thePrint Cycle has finished. Otherwise the NozzleEnable bits for the linebeing printed will be incorrect.

Since all 8 segments are loaded with a single SRClock pulse, anyprinting process must produce the data in the correct sequence for theprinthead. As an example, the first SRClock pulse will transfer the CMYKbits for the next Print Cycle's dot 0, 800, 1600, 2400, 3200, 4000,4800, and 5600. The second SRClock pulse will transfer the CMYK bits forthe next Print Cycle's dot 1, 801, 1601, 2401, 3201, 4001, 4801 and5601. After 800 SRClock pulses, the PTransfer pulse can be given.

It is important to note that the odd and even CMYK outputs, althoughprinted during the same Print Cycle, do not appear on the same physicaloutput line. The physical separation of odd and even nozzles within theprinthead, as well as separation between nozzles of different colorsensures that they will produce dots on different lines of the page. Thisrelative difference must be accounted for when loading the data into theprinthead. The actual difference in lines depends on the characteristicsof the inkjet mechanism used in the printhead. The differences can bedefined by variables D₁ and D₂ where D₁ is the distance between nozzlesof different colors, and D₂ is the distance between nozzles of the samecolor. Table 10 shows the dots transferred to segment n of a printheadon the first 4 pulses.

TABLE 10 Order of Dots Transferred to a 4-inch Printhead Black YellowPulse Dot Line Line Magenta Line Cyan Line 1 800S^(a) N N + D₁ ^(b) N +2D₁ N + 3D₁ 2 800S + 1 N + D₂ ^(c) N + D₁ + N + 2D₁ + D₂ N + 3D₁ + D₂ D₂3 800S + 2 N N + D₁ N + 2D₁ N + 3D₁ 4 800S + 3 N + D₂ N + D₁ + N + 2D₁ +D₂ N + 3D₁ + D₂ D₂ ^(a)S = segment number (0-7) ^(b)D₁ = number of linesbetween the nozzles of one color and the next (likely = 4-8) ^(c)D₂ =number of lines between two rows of nozzles of the same color (likely =1)

And so on for all 800 pulses.

Data can be clocked into the printhead at a maximum rate of 20 MHz,which will load the entire data for the next line in 40 Ts.

6.1.2.2 Print Cycle

A 4-inch printhead contains 25,600 nozzles. To fire them all at oncewould consume too much power and be problematic in terms of ink refilland nozzle interference. Consequently two firing modes are defined: alow-speed printing mode and a high-speed printing mode:

In the low-speed print mode, there are 200 phases, with each phasefiring 128 nozzles. This equates to 16 nozzles per segment, or 4 perfiregroup.

In the high-speed print mode, there are 100 phases, with each phasefiring 256 nozzles. This equates to 32 nozzles per segment, or 8 perfiregroup.

The nozzles to be fired in a given firing pulse are determined by

3 bits ChromapodSelect (select 1 of 5 chromapods from a firegroup)

4 bits NozzleSelect (select 1 of 10 nozzles from a pod)

2 bits of PodgroupEnable lines (select 0, 1, or 2 podgroups to fire)

When one of the PodgroupEnable lines is set, only the specifiedPodgroup's 4 nozzles will fire as determined by ChromapodSelect andNozzleSelect. When both of the PodgroupEnable lines are set, both of thepodgroups will fire their nozzles. For the low-speed mode, two firepulses are required, with PodgroupEnable=10 and 01 respectively. For thehigh-speed mode, only one fire pulse is required, withPodgroupEnable=11.

The duration of the firing pulse is given by the AEnable and BEnablelines, which fire the PhasegroupA and PhasegroupB nozzles from allfiregroups respectively. The typical duration of a firing pulse is1.3-1.8 Ts. The duration of a pulse depends on the viscosity of the ink(dependent on temperature and ink characteristics) and the amount ofpower available to the printhead. See Section 6.1.3 for details onfeedback from the printhead in order to compensate for temperaturechange.

The AEnable and BEnable are separate lines in order that the firingpulses can overlap. Thus the 200 phases of a low-speed Print Cycleconsist of 100 A phases and 100 B phases, effectively giving 100 sets ofPhase A and Phase B. Likewise, the 100 phases of a high-speed printcycle consist of 50 A phases and 50 B phases, effectively giving 50phases of phase A and phase B.

FIG. 16 shows the Aenable 130 and Benable 131 lines during a typicalPrint Cycle. In a high-speed print there are 50 cycles of 2 Ts each,while in a low-speed print there are 100 cycles of 2 Ts each. As shownin the Figure, slight variations in minimum and maximum half cycle timesabout the nominal, are acceptable.

For the high-speed printing mode, the firing order is:

ChromapodSelect 0, NozzleSelect 0, PodgroupEnable 11 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 1, NozzleSelect 0, PodgroupEnable 11 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 2, NozzleSelect 0, PodgroupEnable 11 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 3, NozzleSelect 0, PodgroupEnable 11 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 4, NozzleSelect 0, PodgroupEnable 11 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 0, NozzleSelect 1, PodgroupEnable 11 (Phases A and B)

. . .

ChromapodSelect 3, NozzleSelect 9, PodgroupEnable 11 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 4, NozzleSelect 9, PodgroupEnable 11 (Phases A and B)

For the low-speed printing mode, the firing order is similar. For eachphase of the high speed mode where PodgroupEnable was 11, two phases ofPodgroupEnable=01 and 10 are substituted as follows:

ChromapodSelect 0, NozzleSelect 0, PodgroupEnable 01 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 0, NozzleSelect 0, PodgroupEnable 10 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 1, NozzleSelect 0, PodgroupEnable 01 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 1, NozzleSelect 0, PodgroupEnable 10 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 3, NozzleSelect 9, PodgroupEnable 0l (Phases A and B)

. . .

ChromapodSelect 3, NozzleSelect 9, PodgroupEnable 10 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 4, NozzleSelect 9, PodgroupEnable 01 (Phases A and B)

ChromapodSelect 4, NozzleSelect 9, PodgroupEnable 10 (Phases A and B)

When a nozzle fires, it takes approximately 100 Ts to refill. The nozzlecannot be fired before this refill time has elapsed. This limits thefastest printing speed to 100 Ts per line. In the high-speed print mode,the time to print a line is 100 Ts, so the time between firing a nozzlefrom one line to the next matches the refill time. The low-speed printmode is slower than this, so is also acceptable.

The firing of a nozzle also causes acoustic perturbations for a limitedtime within the common ink reservoir of that nozzle's pod. Theperturbations can interfere with the firing of another nozzle within thesame pod. Consequently, the firing of nozzles within a pod should beoffset from each other as long as possible. We therefore fire fournozzles from a chromapod (one nozzle per color) and then move onto thenext chromapod within the podgroup.

In the low-speed printing mode the podgroups are fired separately. Thusthe 5 chromapods within both podgroups must all fire before the firstchromapod fires again, totalling 10×2 T cycles. Consequently each pod isfired once per 20 Ts.

In the high-speed printing mode, the podgroups are fired together. Thusthe 5 chromapods within a single podgroups must all fire before thefirst chromapod fires again, totalling 5×2 T cycles. Consequently eachpod is fired once per 10 Ts.

As the ink channel is 300 microns long and the velocity of sound in theink is around 1500 m/s, the resonant frequency of the ink channel is 2.5MHz. Thus the low-speed mode allows 50 resonant cycles for the acousticpulse to dampen, and the high-speed mode allows 25 resonant cycles.Consequently any acoustic interference is minimal in both cases.

6.1.3 Feedback from the Printhead

The printhead produces several lines of feedback (accumulated from the 8segments). The feedback lines are used to adjust the timing of thefiring pulses. Although each segment produces the same feedback, thefeedback from all segments share the same tri-state bus lines.Consequently only one segment at a time can provide feedback.

A pulse on the SenseSegSelect line ANDed with data on Cyan selects whichsegment will provide the feedback. The feedback sense lines will comefrom the selected segment until the next SenseSegSelect pulse. Thefeedback sense lines are as follows:

Tsense informs the controller how hot the printhead is. This allows thecontroller to adjust timing of firing pulses, since temperature affectsthe viscosity of the ink.

Vsense informs the controller how much voltage is available to theactuator. This allows the controller to compensate for a flat battery orhigh voltage source by adjusting the pulse width.

Rsense informs the controller of the resistivity (Ohms per square) ofthe actuator heater. This allows the controller to adjust the pulsewidths to maintain a constant energy irrespective of the heaterresistivity.

Wsense informs the controller of the width of the critical part of theheater, which may vary up to ±5% due to lithographic and etchingvariations. This allows the controller to adjust the pulse widthappropriately.

6.1.4 Preheat Cycle

The printing process has a strong tendency to stay at the equilibriumtemperature. To ensure that the first section of the printed photographhas a consistent dot size, the equilibrium temperature must be metbefore printing any dots. This is accomplished via a preheat cycle.

The Preheat cycle involves a single Load Cycle to all nozzles with 1s(i.e. setting all nozzles to fire), and a number of short firing pulsesto each nozzle. The duration of the pulse must be insufficient to firethe drops, but enough to heat up the ink. Altogether about 200 pulsesfor each nozzle are required, cycling through in the same sequence as astandard Print Cycle.

Feedback during the Preheat mode is provided by Tsense, and continuesuntil equilibrium temperature is reached (about 300° C. above ambient).The duration of the Preheat mode is around 50 milliseconds, and dependson the ink composition.

Preheat is performed before each print job. This does not affectperformance as it is done while the data is being transferred to theprinter.

6.1.5 Cleaning Cycle

In order to reduce the chances of nozzles becoming clogged, a cleaningcycle can be undertaken before each print job. Each nozzle is fired anumber of times into an absorbent sponge.

The cleaning cycle involves a single Load Cycle to all nozzles with 1s(i.e. setting all nozzles to fire), and a number of firing pulses toeach nozzle. The nozzles are cleaned via the same nozzle firing sequenceas a standard Print Cycle. The number of times that each nozzle is fireddepends upon the ink composition and the time that the printer has beenidle. As with preheat, the cleaning cycle has no effect on printerperformance.

6.1.6 Printhead Interface Summary

A single 4-inch printhead has the connections shown in Table 11:

TABLE 11 Four-inch Printhead Connections Name #Pins DescriptionChromapodSelect 3 Select which chromapod will fire (0-4) NozzleSelect 4Select which nozzle from the pod will fire (0-9) PodgroupEnable 2 Enablethe podgroups to fire (choice of: 01, 10, 11) AEnable 1 Firing pulse forphasegroup A BEnable 1 Firing pulse for phasegroup B CDataIn[0-7] 8 Cyaninput to cyan shift register of segments 0-7 MDataIn[0-7] 8 Magentainput to magenta shift register of segments 0-7 YDataIn[0-7] 8 Yellowinput to yellow shift register of seg- ments 0-7 KDataIn[0-7] 8 Blackinput to black shift register of segments 0-7 SRClock 1 A pulse onSRClock (ShiftRegisterClock) loads the current values from CDataIn[0-7],MDataIn[0-7], YDataIn[0-7] and KDataIn[0-7] into the 32 shift registers.PTransfer 1 Parallel transfer of data from the shift registers to theinternal NozzleEnable bits (one per nozzle). SenseSegSelect 1 A pulse onSenseSegSelect ANDed with data on CDataIn[n] selects the sense lines forsegment n. Tsense 1 Temperature sense Vsense 1 Voltage sense Rsense 1Resistivity sense Wsense 1 Width sense Logic GND 1 Logic ground LogicPWR 1 Logic power V− Bus Actuator Ground bars V+ Actuator Power TOTAL 52

Internal to the 4-inch printhead, each segment has the connection to thebond pads shown in Table 12:

TABLE 12 Four Inch Printhead Internal Segment Connections Name #PinsDescription Chromapod 3 Select which chromapod will fire (0-4) SelectNozzleSelect 4 Select which nozzle from the pod will fire (0-9)PodgroupEnable 2 Enable the podgroups to fire (choice of: 01, 10, 11)AEnable 1 Firing pulse for podgroup A BEnable 1 Firing pulse forpodgroup B CDataIn 1 Cyan input to cyan shift register MDataIn 1 Magentainput to magenta shift register YDataIn 1 Yellow input to yellow shiftregister KDataIn 1 Black input to black shift register SRClock 1 A pulseon SRClock (ShiftRegisterClock) loads the current values from CDataIn,MDataIn, YDataIn and KDataIn into the 4 shift registers. PTransfer 1Parallel transfer of data from the shift registers to the internalNozzleEnable bits (one per nozzle). SenseSegSelect 1 A pulse onSenseSegSelect ANDed with data on CDataIn selects the sense lines forthis segment. Tsense 1 Temperature sense Vsense 1 Voltage sense Rsense 1Resistivity sense Wsense 1 Width sense Logic GND 1 Logic ground LogicPWR 1 Logic power V− 21  Actuator Ground V+ 21  Actuator Power TOTAL 66 (66 × 8 segments = 528 for all segments)

6.2 8-inch Printhead Considerations

An 8-inch Memjet printhead is simply two 4-inch printheads physicallyplaced together. The printheads are wired together and share many commonconnections in order that the number of pins from a controlling chip isreduced and that the two printheads can print simultaneously. A numberof details must be considered because of this.

6.2.1 Connections

Since firing of nozzles from the two printheads occurs simultaneously,the ChromapodSelect, NozzleSelect, AEnable and BEnable lines are shared.For loading the printheads with data, the 32 lines of CDataln, MDataln,YDataln and KDataln are shared, and 2 different SRClock lines are usedto determine which of the two printheads is to be loaded. A singlePTransfer pulse is used to transfer the loaded data into theNozzleEnable bits for both printheads. Similarly, the Tsense, Vsense,Rsense, and Wsense lines are shared, with 2 SenseEnable lines todistinguish between the two printheads.

Therefore the two 4-inch printheads share all connections except SRClockand SenseEnable. These two connections are repeated, once for eachprinthead. The actual connections are shown here in Table 13:

TABLE 13 8-inch Printhead Connections Name #Pins Description ChrompodSelect 3 Select which chromapod will fire (0-4) NozzleSelect 4 Selectwhich nozzle from the pod will fire (0-9) PodgroupEnable 2 Enable thepodgroups to fire (choice of: 01, 10, 11) AEnable 1 Firing pulse forpodgroup A BEnable 1 Firing pulse for podgroup B CDataIn[0-7] 8 Cyaninput to cyan shift register of segments 0-7 MDataIn[0-7] 8 Magentainput to magenta shift register of segments 0-7 YDataIn[0-7] 8 Yellowinput to yellow shift register of segments 0-7 KDataIn[0-7] 8 Blackinput to black shift register of segments 0-7 SRClock1 1 A pulse onSRClock (ShiftRegisterclock) loads the current values from CDataIn[0-7],MDataIn[0-7] YDataIn[0-7] and KDataIn[0-7] into the 32 shift registersfor 4-inch printhead 1. SRClock2 1 A pulse on SRClock(ShiftRegisterClock) loads the current values from CDataIn[0-7],MDataIn[0-7] YDataIn[0-7] and KDataIn[0-7] into the 32 shift registersfor 4-inch printhead 2. PTransfer 1 Parallel transfer of data from theshift registers to the internal NozzleEnable bits (one per nozzle).SenseSegSelect1 1 A pulse on 4-inch printhead 1's SenseSegSelect lineANDed with data on CDataIn[n] selects the sense lines for segment n.SenseSegSelect2 1 A pulse on 4-inch printhead 2's SenseSegSelect lineANDed with data on CDataIn[n] selects the sense lines for segment n.Tsense 1 Temperature sense Vsense 1 Voltage sense Rsense 1 Resistivitysense Wsense 1 Width sense Logic GND 1 Logic ground Logic PWR 1 Logicpower V− Bus Actuator Ground bars V+ Actuator Power TOTAL 54 

6.2.2 Timing

The joining of two 4-inch printheads and wiring of appropriateconnections enables an 8-inch wide image to be printed as fast as a4-inch wide image. However, there is twice as much data to transfer tothe 2 printheads before the next line can be printed. Depending on thedesired speed for the output image to be printed, data must be generatedand transferred at appropriate speeds in order to keep up.

6.2.2.1 Example

As an example, consider the timing of printing an 8″×12″page in 2seconds. In order to print this page in 2 seconds, the 8-inch printheadmust print 19,200 lines (12×1600). Rounding up to 20,000 lines in 2seconds yields a line time of 100 Ts. A single Print Cycle and a singleLoad Cycle must both finish within this time. In addition, a physicalprocess external to the printhead must move the paper an appropriateamount.

From the printing point of view, the high-speed print mode allows a4-inch printhead to print an entire line in 100 Ts. Both 4-inchprintheads must therefore be run in high-speed print mode to printsimultaneously. Therefore 512 nozzles fire per firing pulse, therebyenabling the printing of an 8-inch line within the specified time.

The 800 SRClock pulses to both 4-inch printheads (each clock pulsetransferring 32 bits) must also take place within the 100 T line time.If both printheads are loaded simultaneously (64 data lines), the lengthof an SRClock pulse cannot exceed 100 Ts/800=125 nanoseconds, indicatingthat the printhead must be clocked at 8 MHz. If the two printheads areloaded one at a time (32 shared data lines), the length of an SRClockpulse cannot exceed 100 Ts/1600=62.5 nanoseconds. The printhead musttherefore be clocked at 16 MHz. In both instances, the average time tocalculate each bit value (for each of the 51,200 nozzles) must notexceed 100 Ts/51,200=2 nanoseconds. This requires a dot generatorrunning at one of the following speeds:

500 MHz generating 1 bit (dot) per cycle

250 MHz generating 2 bits (dots) per cycle

125 MHz generating 4 bits (dots) per cycle

7 Printer Controller

7.1 Printer Controller Architecture

The printer controller consists of the iPrint central processor (ICP)chip 83, a 64 MBit RDRAM 82, and the master QA chip 85, as shown in FIG.8.

The ICP 83 contains a general-purpose processor 139 and a set ofpurpose-specific functional units controlled by the processor via theprocessor bus, as shown in FIG. 17. Only three functional units arenon-standard—the EDRL expander 140, the halftoner/compositor 141, andthe printhead interface 142 which controls the Memjet printhead.

Software running on the processor coordinates the various functionalunits to receive, expand and print pages. This is described in the nextsection.

The various functional units of the ICP are described in subsequentsections.

7.2 Page Expansion and Printing

Page expansion and printing proceeds as follows. A page description isreceived from the host via the USB interface 146 and is stored in mainmemory. 6 MB of main memory is dedicated to page storage. This can holdtwo pages each not exceeding 3 MB, or one page up to 6 MB. If the hostgenerates pages not exceeding 3 MB, then the printer operates instreaming mode—i.e. it prints one page while receiving the next. If thehost generates pages exceeding 3 MB, then the printer operates insingle-page mode—i.e. it receives each page and prints it beforereceiving the next. If the host generates pages exceeding 6 MB then theyare rejected by the printer. In practice the printer driver preventsthis from happening.

A page consists of two parts—the bi-level black layer, and the contonelayer. These are compressed in distinct formats—the bi-level black layerin EDRL format, the contone layer in JPEG format. The first stage ofpage expansion consists of decompressing the two layers in parallel. Thebi-level layer is decompressed 16 by the EDRL expander unit 140, thecontone layer 14 by the JPEG decoder 143.

The second stage of page expansion consists of halftoning 15 the contoneCMYK data to bi-level CMYK, and then compositing 17 the bi-level blacklayer over the bi-level CMYK layer. The halftoning and compositing iscarried out by the halftoner/compositor unit 141.

Finally, the composited bi-level CMYK image is printed 18 via theprinthead interface unit 142, which controls the Memjet printhead.

Because the Memjet printhead prints at high speed, the paper must movepast the printhead at a constant velocity. If the paper is stoppedbecause data can't be fed to the printhead fast enough, then visibleprinting irregularities will occur. It is therefore important totransfer bi-level CMYK data to the printhead interface at the requiredrate.

A fully-expanded 1600 dpi bi-level CMYK page has a size of 114.3 MB.Because it is impractical to store an expanded page in printer memory,each page is expanded in real time during printing. Thus the variousstages of page expansion and printing are pipelined. The page expansionand printing data flow is described in Table 14. The aggregate trafficto/from main memory of 174 MB/s is well within the capabilities ofcurrent technologies such as Rambus.

TABLE 14 Page expansion and printing data flow out- input put win- win-process input dow output dow input rate output rate receive — — JPEG 1 —1.5 MB/s contone stream — 3.3 Mp/s receive — — EDRL 1 — 1.5 MB/sbi-level stream — 30 Mp/s decompre JPEG — 32-bit 8 1.5 MB/s 13 MB/s ssstream CMY 3.3 Mp/s 3.3 Mp/s contone K decompre EDRL — 1-bit K 1 1.5MB/s 14 MB/s ss bi- stream 30 Mp/s^(a) 120 Mp/s level halftone 32-bit 1—^(b) — 13 MB/s — CMYK 3.3 Mp/s^(c) composit 1-bit 1 4-bit 1 14 MB/s 57MB/s e K CMY 120 Mp/s 120 Mp/s K print 4-bit 24, — — 57 MB/s — CMYK1^(d) 120 Mp/s — 87 MB/s 87 MB/s 174 MB/s ^(a)800 dpi => 1600 dpi (2 × 2expansion) ^(b)halftone combines with composite, so there is no externaldata flow between them ^(c)267 ppi => 1600 dpi (6 × 6 expansion)^(d)Needs a window of 24 lines, but only advances 1 line

Each stage communicates with the next via a shared FIFO in main memory.Each FIFO is organised into lines, and the minimum size (in lines) ofeach FIFO is designed to accommodate the output window (in lines) of theproducer and the input window (in lines) of the consumer. Theinter-stage main memory buffers are described in Table 15. The aggregatebuffer space usage of 6.3 MB leaves 1.7 MB free for program code andscratch memory (out of the 8 MB available).

TABLE 15 Page expansion and printing main memory buffers organisationnumber buffer buffer and line size of lines size compressed page bytestream — 6 MB buffer 146 (one or two pages) — contone CMYK 32-bitinterleaved CMYK 8 × 2 = 16 134 KB buffer 147 (267 ppi × 8″ × 32 = 8.3KB) bi-level K buffer 1-bit K 1 × 2 = 2 3 KB 148 (800 dpi × 8″ × 1 = 1.5KB) bi-level CMYK 4-bit planar odd/even 24 + 1 = 156 KB buffer 149 CMYK25 (1600 dpi × 3″ × 4 = 6.3 KB) 63 MB

The overall data flow, including FIFOs, is illustrated in FIG. 18.

Contone page decompression is carried out by the JPEG decoder 143.Bi-level page decompression is carried out by the EDRL expander 140.Halftoning and compositioning is carried out by the halftoner/compositorunit 141. These functional units are described in the followingsections.

7.2.1 DMA Approach

Each functional unit contains one or more on-chip input and/or outputFIFOs. Each FIFO is allocated a separate channel in the multi-channelDMA controller 144. The DMA controller 144 handles single-address ratherthan double-address transfers, and so provides a separaterequest/acknowledge interface for each channel.

Each functional unit stalls gracefully whenever an input FIFO isexhausted or an output FIFO is filled.

The processor 139 programs each DMA transfer. The DMA controller 144generates the address for each word of the transfer on request from thefunctional unit connected to the channel. The functional unit latchesthe word onto or off the data bus 145 when its request is acknowledgedby the DMA controller 144. The DMA controller 144 interrupts theprocessor 139 when the transfer is complete, thus allowing the processor139 to program another transfer on the same channel in a timely fashion.

In general the processor 139 will program another transfer on a channelas soon as the corresponding main memory FIFO is available (i.e.non-empty for a read, non-full for a write).

The granularity of channel servicing implemented in the DMA controller144 depends somewhat on the latency of main memory.

7.2.2 EDRL Expander

The EDRL expander unit (EEU) 140, shown in FIG. 19, decompresses anEDRL-compressed bi-level image.

The input to the EEU is an EDRL bitstream 150. The output from the EEUis a set of bi-level image lines 151, scaled horizontally from theresolution of the expanded bi-level image by an integer scale factor to1600 dpi.

Once started, the EEU proceeds until it detects an end-of-page code inthe EDRL bitstream, or until it is explicitly stopped via its controlregister.

The EEU relies on an explicit page width to decode the bitstream. Thismust be written to the page width register 152 prior to starting theEEU.

The scaling of the expanded bi-level image relies on an explicit scalefactor. This must be written to the scale factor register 153 prior tostarting the EEU.

TABLE 16 EDRL expander control and configuration registers registerwidth description start 1 Start the EEU. stop 1 Stop the EEU. page width13  Page width used during decoding to detect end-of- line. scale factor4 Scale factor used during scaling of expanded image.

The EDRL compression format is described in Section 5.2.3. It representsa bi-level image in terms of its edges. Each edge in each line is codedrelative to an edge in the previous line, or relative to the previousedge in the same line. No matter how it is coded, each edge isultimately decoded to its distance from the previous edge in the sameline. This distance, or runlength, is then decoded to the string of onebits or zero bits which represent the corresponding part of the image.The decompression algorithm is also defined in Section 5.2.3.2.

The EEU consists of a bitstream decoder 154, a state machine 155, edgecalculation logic 156, two runlength decoders 157 and 158, and arunlength (re)encoder 159.

The bitstream decoder 154 decodes an entropy-coded codeword from thebitstream and passes it to the state machine 155. The state machine 155returns the size of the codeword to the bitstream decoder 154, whichallows the decoder 154 to advance to the next codeword. In the case of acreate edge code, the state machine 155 uses the bitstream decoder toextract the corresponding runlength from the bitstream. The statemachine controls the edge calculation logic and runlengthdecoding/encoding as defined in Table 18.

The edge calculation logic is quite simple. The current edge offset inthe previous (reference) and current (coding) lines are maintained inthe reference edge register 160 and edge register 161 respectively. Therunlength associated with a create edge code is output directly to therunlength decoders, and is added to the current edge. A delta code istranslated into a runlength by adding the associated delta to thereference edge and subtracting the current edge. The generated runlengthis output to the runlength decoders, and is added to the current edge.The next runlength is extracted from the runlength encoder 159 and addedto the reference edge 160. A kill edge code simply causes the currentreference edge to be skipped. Again the next runlength is extracted fromthe runlength encoder and added to the reference edge.

Each time the edge calculation logic 156 generates a runlengthrepresenting an edge, it is passed to the runlength decoders. While therunlength decoder decodes the run it generates a stall signal to thestate machine. Since the runlength decoder 157 is slower than the edgecalculation logic, there's not much point in decoupling it. The expandedline accumulates in a line buffer 162 large enough to hold an 8″800 dpiline (800 bytes).

The previously expanded line is also buffered 163. It acts as areference for the decoding of the current line. The previous line isre-encoded as runlengths on demand. This is less expensive thanbuffering the decoded runlengths of the previous line, since the worstcase is one 13-bit runlength for each pixel (20 KB at 1600 dpi). Whilethe runlength encoder 159 encodes the run it generates a stall signal tothe state machine. The runlength encoder uses the page width 152 todetect end-of-line. The (current) line buffer 162 and the previous linebuffer 163 are concatenated and managed as a single FIFO to simplify therunlength encoder 159.

Runlength decoder 158 decodes the output runlength to a line buffer 164large enough to hold an 8″1600 dpi line (1600 bytes). The runlengthpassed to this output runlength decoder is multiplied by the scalefactor 153, so this decoder produces 1600 dpi lines. The line is outputscale factor times through the output pixel FIFO 165. This achieves therequired vertical scaling by simple line replication. The EEU could bedesigned with edge smoothing integrated into its image scaling. A simplesmoothing scheme based on template-matching can be very effective [10].This would require a multi-line buffer between the low-resolutionrunlength decoder and the smooth scaling unit, but would eliminate thehigh-resolution runlength decoder.

7.2.2.1 EDRL Stream Decoder

The EDRL stream decoder 154, illustrated in FIG. 20, decodesentropy-coded EDRL codewords in the input bitstream, It uses a two-byteinput buffer 167 viewed through a 16-bit barrel shifter 168 whose left(most significant) edge is always aligned to a codeword boundary in thebitstrearn. The decoder 169 connected to the barrel shifter 168 decodesa codeword according to Table 17, and supplies the state machine 155with the corresponding code.

TABLE 17 EDRL stream codeword decoding table input codeword output codebit pattern^(a) output code bit pattern 1xxx xxxx Δ0 1 0000 0000 010xxxxx Δ+1 0 1000 0000 011x xxxx Δ−1 0 0100 0000 0010 xxxx kill edge 00010 0000 0011 xxxx create near edge 0 0001 0000 0001 0xxx Δ+2 0 00001000 0001 1xxx Δ−2 0 0000 0100 0000 1xxx create far edge 0 0000 00100000 01xx end-of-page (EOP) 0 0000 0001 ^(a)x = don't care

The state machine 155 in turn outputs the length of the code. This isadded 170, modulo-8, to the current codeword bit offset to yield thenext codeword bit offset. The bit offset in turn controls the barrelshifter 168. If the codeword bit offset wraps, then the carry bitcontrols the latching of the next byte from the input FIFO 166. At thistime byte 2 is latched to byte 1, and the FIFO output is latched to byte2. It takes two cycles of length 8 to fill the input buffer. This ishandled by starting states in the state machine 155.

7.2.2.2 EDRL Expander State Machine

The EDRL expander state machine 155 controls the edge calculation andrunlength expansion logic in response to codes supplied by the EDRLstream decoder 154. It supplies the EDRL stream decoder with the lengthof the current codeword and supplies the edge calculation logic with thedelta value associated with the current delta code. The state machinealso responds to start and stop control signals from the controlregister, and the end-of-line (EOL) signal from the edge calculationlogic.

The state machine also controls the multi-cycle fetch of the runlengthassociated with a create edge code.

TABLE 18 EDRL expander state machine input input code signal codecurrent state next state len delta actions start — stopped starting 8 —— — — starting idle 8 — — stop — — stopped 0 — reset RL decoders andFIFOs EOL — — EOL 1 0 — reset RL encoder; reset RL decoders; reset ref.edge and edge — — EOL 1 idle RL encoder => ref. RL; ref. edge += ref. RL— D0 idle idle 1 0 RL = edge − ref. edge + delta; edge += RL; RL => RLdecoder; RL encoder => ref. RL; ref. edge += ref. RL — Δ + 1 idle idle 2+1 ″ — Δ − 1 idle idle 3 −1 ″ — Δ + 2 idle idle 4 +2 ″ — Δ − 2 idle idle5 −2 ″ — kill idle idle 6 — RL encoder => edge ref. RL; ref. edge +=ref. RL — create idle create RL lo 7 — reset create RL near 7 edge —create idle create RL hi 8 — — far 6 edge — EOP idle stopped 8 — — — —create RL hi 6 create RL lo 6 — latch create RL hi 6 7 — — create RL lo7 create edge 7 — latch create RL lo 7 — — create edge idle 0 — RL =create RL; edge += RL; RL => RL encoder

7.2.2.3 Runlength Decoder

The runlength decoder 157/158, shown in FIG. 21, expands a runlengthinto a sequence of zero bits or one bits of the corresponding length inthe output stream. The first run in a line is assumed to be white (color0). Each run is assumed to be of the opposite color to its predecessor.If the first run is actually black (color 1), then it must be precededby a zero-length white run. The runlength decoder keeps track of thecurrent color internally.

The runlength decoder appends a maximum of 8 bits to the output streamevery clock. Runlengths are typically not an integer multiple of 8, andso runs other than the first in an image are typically not byte-aligned.The run decoder maintains, in the byte space register 180, the number ofbits available in the byte currently being built. This is initialised to8 at the beginning of decoding, and on the output of every byte.

The decoder starts outputting a run of bits as soon as the next run linelatches a non-zero value into the runlength register 181. The decodereffectively stalls when the runlength register goes to zero.

A number of bits of the current color are shifted into the output byteregister 182 each clock. The current color is maintained in the 1-bitcolor register 183. The number of bits actually output is limited by thenumber of bits left in the runlength, and by the number of spare bitsleft in the output byte. The number of bits output is subtracted fromthe runlength and the byte space. When the runlength goes to zero it hasbeen completely decoded, although the trailing bits of the run may stillbe in the output byte register, pending output. When the byte space goesto zero the output byte is full and is appended to the output stream.

The 16-bit barrel shifter 184, the output byte register 182 and thecolor register 183 together implement an 8-bit shift register which canbe shifted multiple bit positions every clock, with the color as theserial input.

The external reset line is used to reset the runlength decoder at thestart of a line. The external next run line is used to request thedecoding of a new runlength. It is accompanied by a runlength on theexternal runlength lines. The next run line should not be set on thesame clock as the reset line. Because next run inverts the currentcolor, the reset of the color sets it to one, not zero. The externalflush line is used to flush the last byte of the run, if incomplete. Itcan be used on a line-by-line basis to yield byte-aligned lines, or onan image basis to yield a byte-aligned image.

The external ready line indicates whether the runlength decoder is readyto decode a runlength. It can be used to stall the external logic.

7.2.2.4 Runlength Encoder

The runlength encoder 159, shown in FIG. 22, detects a run of zero orone bits in the input stream. The first run in a line is assumed to bewhite (color 0). Each run is assumed to be of the opposite color to itspredecessor. If the first run is actually black (color 1), then therunlength encoder generates a zero-length white run at the start of theline. The runlength decoder keeps track of the current color internally.

The runlength encoder reads a maximum of 8 bits from the input streamevery clock. It uses a two-byte input buffer 190 viewed through a 16-bitbarrel shifter 191 whose left (most significant) edge is always alignedto the current position in the bitstream. The encoder 192 connected tothe barrel shifter encodes an 8-bit (partial) runlength according toTable 19. The encoder 192 uses the current color to recognise runs ofthe appropriate color.

The 8-bit runlength generated by the 8-bit runlength encoder is added tothe value in the runlength register 193. When the 8-bit runlengthencoder recognises the end of the current run it generates an end-of-runsignal which is latched by the ready register 194. The output of theready register 194 indicates that the encoder has completed encoding thecurrent runlength, accumulated in the runlength register 193. The outputof the ready register 194 is also used to stall the 8-bit runlengthencoder 192. When stalled the 8-bit runlength encoder 192 outputs azero-length run and a zero end-of-run signal, effectively stalling theentire runlength encoder.

TABLE 19 8-bit runlength encoder table color input length end-of-run 00000 0000 8 0 0 0000 0001 7 1 0 0000 001x 6 1 0 0000 01xx 5 1 0 00001xxx 4 1 0 0001 xxxx 3 1 0 001x xxxx 2 1 0 01xx xxxx 1 1 0 1xxx xxxx 0 11 1111 1111 8 0 1 1111 110x 6 1 1 1111 10xx 5 1 1 1111 0xxx 4 1 1 1110xxxx 3 1 1 110x xxxx 2 1 1 10xx xxxx 1 1 1 0xxx xxxx 0 1

The output of the 8-bit runlength encoder 192 is limited by theremaining page width. The actual 8-bit runlength is subtracted from theremaining page width, and is added 195 to the modulo-8 bit position usedto control the barrel shifter 191 and clock stream input.

The external reset line is used to reset the runlength encoder at thestart of a line. It resets the current color and latches the page widthinto the page width register. The external next run line is used torequest another runlength from the runlength encoder. It inverts thecurrent color, and resets the runlength register and ready register. Theexternal flush line is used to flush the last byte of the run, ifincomplete. It can be used on a by-line basis to process byte-alignedlines, or on an image basis to process a byte-aligned image.

The external ready line indicates that the runlength encoder is ready toencode a runlength, and that the current runlength is available on therunlength lines. It can be used to stall the external logic.

7.2.3 JPEG Decoder

The JPEG decoder 143, shown in FIG. 23, decompresses a JPEG-compressedCMYK contone image.

The input to the JPEG decoder is a JPEG bitstream. The output from theJPEG decoder is a set of contone CMYK image lines.

When decompressing, the JPEG decoder writes its output in the form of8×8 pixel blocks. These are sometimes converted to full-width lines viaan page width×8 strip buffer closely coupled with the codec. This wouldrequire a 67 KB buffer. We instead use 8 parallel pixel FIFOs withshared bus access and 8 corresponding DMA channels, as shown in FIG. 23.

7.2.4 Halftoner/Compositor

The halftoner/compositor unit (HCU) 141, shown in FIG. 24, combines thefunctions of halftoning the contone CMYK layer to bi-level CMYK, andcompositing the black layer over the halftoned contone layer.

The input to the HCU is an expanded 267 ppi CMYK contone layer 200, andan expanded 1600 dpi black layer 201. The output from the HCU is a setof 1600 dpi bi-level CMYK image lines 202.

Once started, the HCU proceeds until it detects an end-of-pagecondition, or until it is explicitly stopped via its control register.

The HCU generates a page of dots of a specified width and length. Thewidth and length must be written to the page width and page lengthregisters prior to starting the HCU. The page width corresponds to thewidth of the printhead 171. The page length corresponds to the length ofthe target page.

The HCU generates target page data between specified left and rightmargins relative to the page width. The positions of the left and rightmargins must be written to the left margin and right margin registersprior to starting the HCU. The distance from the left margin to theright margin corresponds to the target page width.

The HCU consumes black and contone data according to specified black 172and contone 173 page widths. These page widths must be written to theblack page width and contone page width registers prior to starting theHCU. The HCU clips black and contone data to the target page width 174.This allows the black and contone page widths to exceed the target pagewidth without requiring any special end-of-line logic at the input FIFOlevel.

The relationships between the page width 171, the black 172 and contone173 page widths, and the margins are illustrated in FIG. 25.

The HCU scales contone data to printer resolution both horizontally andvertically based on a specified scale factor. This scale factor must bewritten to the contone scale factor register prior to starting the HCU.

TABLE 20 Halftoner/compositor control and configuration registersregister width description start  1 Start the HCU. stop  1 Stop the HCU.page width 14 Page width of printed page, in dots. This is the number ofdots which have to be generated for each line. left margin 14 Positionof left margin, in dots. right margin 14 Position of right margin, indots. page length 15 Page length of printed page, in dots. This is thenumber of lines which have to be generated for each page. black pagewidth 14 Page width of black layer, in dots. Used to detect the end of ablack line. contone page 14 Page width of contone layer, in dots. Usedto width detect the end of a contone line. contone  4 Scale factor usedto scale contone data to scale factor bi-level resolution.

The consumer of the data produced by the HCU is the printhead interface.The printhead interface requires bi-level CMYK image data in planarformat, i.e. with the color planes separated. Further, it also requiresthat even and odd pixels are separated. The output stage of the HCUtherefore uses 8 parallel pixel FIFOs, one each for even cyan, odd cyan,even magenta, odd magenta, even yellow, odd yellow, even black, and oddblack.

The input contone CMYK FIFO is a full 8 KB line buffer. The line is usedcontone scalefactor times to effect vertical up-scaling via linereplication. FIFO write address wrapping is disabled until the start ofthe last use of the line. An alternative is to read the line from mainmemory contone scale factor times, increasing memory traffic by 65 MB/s,but avoiding the need for the on-chip 8 KB line buffer.

7.2.4.1 Multi-Threshold Dither

A general 256-layer dither volume provides great flexibility in dithercell design, by decoupling different intensity levels. General dithervolumes can be large—a 64×64×256 dither volume, for example, has a sizeof 128 KB. They are also inefficient to access since each colorcomponent requires the retrieval of a different bit from the volume. Inpractice, there is no need to fully decouple each layer of the dithervolume. Each dot column of the volume can be implemented as a fixed setof thresholds rather than 256 separate bits. Using three 8-bitthresholds, for example, only consumes 24 bits. Now, n thresholds definen+1 intensity intervals, within which the corresponding dither celllocation is alternately not set or set. The contone pixel value beingdithered uniquely selects one of the n+1 intervals, and this determinesthe value of the corresponding output dot.

We dither the contone data using a triple-threshold 64×64×3×8-bit (12KB) dither volume. The three thresholds form a convenient 24-bit valuewhich can be retrieved from the dither cell ROM in one cycle. If dithercell registration is desired between color planes, then the sametriple-threshold value can be retrieved once and used to dither eachcolor component. If dither cell registration is not desired, then thedither cell can be split into four sub-cells and stored in fourseparately addressable ROMs from which four different triple-thresholdvalues can be retrieved in parallel in one cycle. Using the addressingscheme shown in FIG. 26, the four color planes share the same dithercell at vertical and/or horizontal offsets of 32 dots from each other.

The Multi-threshold dither 203 is shown in FIG. 26. The triple-thresholdunit 204 converts a triple-threshold value and an intensity value intoan interval and thence a one or zero bit. The triple-thresholding rulesare shown in Table 21. The corresponding logic 208 is shown in FIG. 27.

Referring to FIG. 26 in more detail, four separate triple thresholdunits indicated generally at 204 each receive a series of contone colorpixel values for respective color components of the CMYK signal. Thedither volume is split into four dither subcells A, B, C and D,indicated generally at 205. A dither cell address generator 206 and fourgates indicated generally at 207, control the retrieval of the fourdifferent triple threshold values which can be retrieved in parallel inone cycle for the different colors.

TABLE 21 Triple-thresholding rules interval output V ≦ T₁ 0 T₁ < V ≦ T₂1 T₂ < V ≦ T₃ 0 T₃ < V 1

7.2.4.2 Composite

The composite unit 205 composites a black layer dot over a halftonedCMYK layer dot. If the black layer opacity is one, then the halftonedCMY is set to zero. Given a 4-bit halftoned color C_(c)M_(c)Y_(c)K_(c)and a 1-bit black layer opacity K_(b), the composite and clip logic isas defined in Table 22.

TABLE 22 Composite logic color channel condition C C_(c) K_(b) M M_(c)K_(b) Y Y_(c) K_(b) K K_(c)  K_(b)

7.2.4.3 Clock Enable Generator

The clock enable generator 206 generates enable signals for clocking thecontone CMYK pixel input ethe black dot input, and the CMYK dot output.

As described earlier, the contone pixel input buffer is used as both aline buffer and a FIFO. Each line is read once and then used contonescale factor times. FIFO write address wrapping is disabled until thestart of the final replicated use of the line, at which time the clockenable generator generates a contone line advance enable signal whichenables wrapping.

The clock enable generator also generates an even signal which is usedto select the even or odd set of output dot FIFOs, and a margin signalwhich is used to generate white dots when the current dot position is inthe left or right margin of the page.

The clock enable generator uses a set of counters. The internal logic ofthe counters is defined in Table 23. The logic of the clock enablesignals is defined in Table 24.

TABLE 23 Clock enable generator counter logic load decrement counterabbr. w. data condition condition dot D 14 page width RP^(a) EOL^(b)(D > 0) clk line L 15 page length RP (L > 0) EOL left margin LM 14 leftmargin RP EOL (LM > 0) clk right RM 14 right margin RP EOL (RM > 0) clkmargin even/odd E 1 0 RP EOL clk dot black dot BD 14 black width RP EOL(LM = 0) (BD > 0) clk contone CD 14 contone width RP EOL (LM = 0) (CD >0) clk dot contone CSP 4 contone scale RP EOL (LM = 0) clk sub-pixelfactor (CSP = 0) contone CSL 4 contone scale RP (CSL = 0) EOL clksub-line factor ^(a)RP (reset page) condition: external signal ^(b)EOL(end-of-line) condition: (D = 0) (BD = 0) (CD = 0)

TABLE 24 Clock enable generator output signal logic output signalcondition output dot clock enable (D>0) EOP^(a) black dot clock enable(LM=0)  (BD>0) EOP contone pixel clock enable (LM=0)  (CD>0) (CSP=0) EOPcontone line advance (CSL=0) EOP enable even E=0 margin (LM=0)  (RM=0)^(a)EOP (end-of-page) condition: L = 0

7.3 Printhead Interface

The printhead interface (PHI) 142 is the means by which the processorloads the Memjet printhead with the dots to be printed, and controls theactual dot printing process. The PHI contains:

a line loader/format unit (LLFU) 209 which loads the dots for a givenprint line into local buffer storage and formats them into the orderrequired for the Memjet print head.

a Memjet interface (MJI) 210, which transfers data to the Memjetprinthead 63, and controls the nozzle firing sequences during a print.

The units within the PHI are controlled by a number of registers thatare programmed by the processor 139. In addition, the processor isresponsible for setting up the appropriate parameters in the DMAcontroller 144 for the transfers from memory to the LLFU. This includesloading white (all 0's) into appropriate colors during the start and endof a page so that the page has clean edges. The internal structure ofthe Printhead Interface 142 is shown in FIG. 28.

7.3.1 Line Loader/Format Unit

The line loader/format unit (LLFU) 209 loads the dots for a given printline into local buffer storage and formats them into the order requiredfor the Memjet printhead. It is responsible for supplying thepre-calculated nozzleEnable bits to the Memjet interface for theeventual printing of the page.

A single line in the 8-inch printhead consists of 12,800 4-color dots.At 1 bit per color, a single print line consists of 51,200 bits. Thesebits must be supplied in the correct order for being sent on to theprinthead. See Section 6.1.2.1 for more information concerning the LoadCycle dot loading order, but in summary, 32 bits are transferred at atime to each of the two 4-inch printheads, with the 32 bits representing4 dots for each of the 8 segments.

The printing uses a double buffering scheme for preparing and accessingthe dot-bit information. While one line is being loaded into the firstbuffer 213, the pre-loaded line in the second buffer 214 is being readin Memjet dot order. Once the entire line has been transferred from thesecond buffer 214 to the printhead via the Memjet interface, the readingand writing processes swap buffers. The first buffer 213 is now read andthe second buffer is loaded up with the new line of data. This isrepeated throughout the printing process, as can be seen in theconceptual overview of FIG. 29

The actual implementation of the LLFU is shown in FIG. 30. Since onebuffer is being read from while the other is being written to, two setsof address lines must be used. The 32-bits Dataln from the common databus are loaded depending on the WriteEnables, which are generated by theState Machine in response to the DMA Acknowledges.

A multiplexor 215 chooses between the two 4-bit outputs of Buffer 0,213and Buffer 1,214, and sends the result to an 8-entry by 4-bit shiftregister 216. After the first 8 read cycles, and whenever an Advancepulse comes from the MJI, the current 32-bit value from the shiftregister is gated into the 32-bit Transfer register 217, where it can beused by the MJI.

7.3.1.1 Buffers

Each of the two buffers 213 and 214 is broken into 4 sub-buffers 220,221, 222 and 223, 1 per color. All the even dots are placed before theodd dots in each color's buffer, as shown in FIG. 31.

The 51,200 bits representing the dots in the next line to be printed arestored 12,800 bits per color buffer, stored as 400 32-bit words. Thefirst 200 32-bit words (6400 bits) represent the even dots for thecolor, while the second 200 32-bit words (6400 bits) represent the odddots for the color.

The addressing decoding circuitry is such that in a given cycle, asingle 32-bit access can be made to all 4 sub-buffers—either a read fromall 4 or a write to one of the 4. Only one bit of the 32-bits read fromeach color buffer is selected, for a total of 4 output bits. The processis shown in FIG. 32. 13 bits of address allow the reading of aparticular bit by means of 8-bits of address being used to select 32bits, and 5-bits of address choose 1 -bit from those 32. Since all colorbuffers share this logic, a single 13-bit address gives a total of 4bits out, one per color. Each buffer has its own WriteEnable line, toallow a single 32-bit value to be written to a particular color bufferin a given cycle. The 32-bits of Dataln are shared, since only onebuffer will actually clock the data in.

7.3.1.2 Address Generation

7.3.1.2.1 Reading

Address Generation for reading is straightforward. Each cycle wegenerate a bit address which is used to fetch 4 bits representing 1-bitper color for the particular segment. By adding 400 to the current bitaddress, we advance to the next segment's equivalent dot. We add 400(not 800) since the odd and even dots are separated in the buffer. We dothis 16 times to retrieve the two sets of 32 bits for the two sets of 8segments representing the even dots (the resultant data is transferredto the MJI 32 bits at a time) and another 16 times to load the odd dots.This 32-cycle process is repeated 400 times, incrementing the startaddress each time. Thus in 400×32 cycles, a total of 400×32×4 (51,200)dot values are transferred in the order required by the printhead.

In addition, we generate the TransferWriteEnable control signal. Sincethe LLFU starts before the MJI, we must transfer the first value beforethe Advance pulse from the MJI. We must also generate the next 32-bitvalue in readiness for the first Advance pulse. The solution is totransfer the first 32-bit value to the Transfer register after 8 cycles,and then to stall 8-cycles later, waiting for the Advance pulse to startthe next 8-cycle group. Once the first Advance pulse arrives, the LLFUis synchronized to the MJI. However, the MJI must be started at least 16cycles after the LLFU so that the initial Transfer value is valid andthe next 32-bit value is ready to be loaded into the Transfer register.

The read process is shown in the following pseudocode:

DotCount = 0 For DotInSegment0 = 0 to 400   CurrAdr = DotInSegment0   Do    V1 = (CurrAdr=0) OR (CurrAdr=3200)     V2 = Low 3 bits of DotCount =0     TransferWriteEnable = V1 OR ADVANCE     Stall = V2 AND (NOTTransferWriteEnable)     If (NOT Stall)     Shift Register=Fetch 4-bitsfrom CurrReadBuffer:CurrAdr     CurrAdr = CurrAdr + 400     DotCount =(DotCount + 1) MOD 32 (odd&even, printheads 1&2, segments 0-7)     EndIf  Until (DotCount=0) AND (NOT Stall) EndFor

Once the line has finished, the CurrReadBuffer value must be toggled bythe processor.

7.3.1.2.2 Writing

The write process is also straightforward. 4 DMA request lines areoutput to the DMA controller. As requests are satisfied by the returnDMA Acknowledge lines, the appropriate 8-bit destination address isselected (the lower 5 bits of the 13-bit output address are don't carevalues) and the acknowledge signal is passed to the correct buffer'sWriteEnable control line (the Current Write Buffer isCurrentReadBuffer). The 8-bit destination address is selected from the 4current addresses, one address per color. As DMA requests are satisfiedthe appropriate destination address is incremented, and thecorresponding TransfersRemaining counter is decremented. The DMA requestline is only set when the number of transfers remaining for that coloris non-zero.

The following pseudocode illustrates the Write process:

CurrentAdr[0-3] = 0 While (TransfersRemaining[0-3] are all non-zero)  DMARequest[0-3] = TransfersRemaining[0-3] != 0   If DMAAknowledge[N]    CurrWriteBuffer:CurrentAdr[N] = Fetch 32-bits from data bus    CurrentAdr[N] = CurrentAdr[N] + 1     TransfersRemaining[N] =TransfersRemaining[N] − 1 (floor 0)   EndIf EndWhile

7.3.1.3 Registers The Following Registers are Contained in the LLFU:

TABLE 25 Line Load/Format Unit Registers Register Name DescriptionCurrentReadBuffer The current buffer being read from. When Buffer0 isbeing read from, Buffer1 is written to and vice versa. Should be toggledwith each AdvanceLine pulse from the MJI. Go Bits 0 and 1 control thestarting of the read and write processes respectively. A non-zero writeto the appropriate bit starts the process. Stop Bits 0 and 1 control thestopping of the read and write processes respectively. A non-zero writeto the appropriate bit stops the process. TransfersRemainingC The numberof 32-bit transfers remaining to be read into the Cyan bufferTransfersRemainingM The number of 32-bit transfers remaining to be readinto the Magenta buffer TransfersRemainingY The number of 32-bittransfers remaining to be read into the Yellow bufferTransfersRcmainingK The number of 32-bit transfers remaining to be readinto the Black buffer

7.3.2 Memjet Interface

The Memjet interface (MJI) 211 transfers data to the Memjet printhead63, and controls the nozzle firing sequences during a print.

The MJI is simply a State Machine (see FIG. 28) which follows thePrinthead loading and firing order described in Section 6.1.2, andincludes the functionality of the Preheat Cycle and Cleaning Cycle asdescribed in Section 6.1.4 and Section 6.1.5. Both high-speed andlow-speed printing modes are available. Dot counts for each color arealso kept by the MJI.

The MJI loads data into the printhead from a choice of 2 data sources:

All 1s. This means that all nozzles will fire during a subsequent Printcycle, and is the standard mechanism for loading the printhead for apreheat or cleaning cycle.

From the 32-bit input held in the Transfer register of the LLFU. This isthe standard means of printing an image. The 32-bit value from the LLFUis directly sent to the printhead and a 1-bit ‘Advance’ control pulse issent to the LLFU. At the end of each line, a 1-bit ‘AdvanceLine’ pulseis also available.

The MJI must be started after the LLFU has already prepared the first32-bit transfer value. This is so the 32-bit data input will be validfor the first transfer to the printhead.

The MJI is therefore directly connected to the LLFU and the externalMemjet printhead.

7.3.2.1 Connections to Printhead

The MJI 211 has the following connections to the printhead 63, with thesense of input and output with respect to the MJI. The names match thepin connections on the printhead (see Section 6.2.1 for an explanationof the way the 8-inch printhead is wired up).

TABLE 26 Memjet Interface Connections Name #Pins I/O DescriptionChromapod Select 3 O Select which chromapod will fire (0-4) NozzleSelect4 O Select which nozzle from the pod will fire (0-9) PodgroupEnable 2 OEnable the podgroups to fire (choice of: 01, 10, 11) AEnable 1 O Firingpulse for podgroup A BEnable 1 O Firing pulse for podgroup BCDataIn[0-7] 8 O Cyan output to cyan shift register of segments 0-7MDataIn[0-7] 8 O Magenta input to magenta shift register of segments 0-7YDataIn[0-7] 8 O Yellow input to yellow shift register of segments 0-7KDataIn[0-7] 8 O Black input to black shift register of segment 0-7SRClock1 1 O A pulse on SRClock1 (ShiftRegisterClock1) loads the currentvalues from CDataIn[0-7], MDataIn[0-7], YDataIn[0-7] and KDataIn[0-7]into the 32 shift registers of 4-inch printhead 1 SRClock2 1 O A pulseon SRClock2 (ShiftRegisterClock2) loads the current values fromCDataIn[0-7], MDataIn[0-7], YDataIn[0-7] and KDataIn[0-7] into the 32shift registers of 4-inch printhead 2 PTransfer 1 O Parallel transfer ofdata from the shift registers to the printhead's internal NozzleEnablebits (one per nozzle). SenseSegSelect1 1 O A pulse on SenseSegEnable1ANDed with data on CDataIn[n] enables the sense lines for segment n in4-inch printhead 1. SenseSegEnable2 1 O A pulse on SenseSegEnable2 ANDedwith data on CDataIn[n] enables the sense lines for segment n in 4-inchprinthead 2. Tsense 1 I Temperature sense Vsense 1 I Voltage senseRsense 1 I Resistivity sense Wsense 1 I Width sense TOTAL 52 

7.3.2.2 Firing Pulse Duration

The duration of firing pulses on the AEnable and BEnable lines depend onthe viscosity of the ink (which is dependant on temperature and inkcharacteristics) and the amount of power available to the printhead. Thetypical pulse duration range is 1.3 to 1.8 Ts. The MJI thereforecontains a programmable pulse duration table 230, indexed by feedbackfrom the printhead. The table of pulse durations allows the use of alower cost as power supply, and aids in maintaining more accurate dropejection.

The Pulse Duration table has 256 entries, and is indexed by the currentVsense 231 and Tsense 232 settings. The upper 4-bits of address comefrom Vsense, and the lower 4-bits of address come from Tsense. Eachentry is 8-bits, and represents a fixed point value in the range of 0-4Ts. The process of generating the AEnable and BEnable lines is shown inFIG. 33. The analog Vsense 231 and Tsense 232 signals are received byrespective sample and hold circuits 233 and 234, and then converted todigital words in respective converters 235 and 236, before being appliedto the pulse duration table 230. The output of the pulse duration table230 is applied to a pulse width generator 237 to generate the firingpulses.

The 256-byte table is written by the CPU before printing the first page.The table may be updated in between pages if desired. Each 8-bit pulseduration entry in the table combines:

User brightness settings (from the page description)

Viscosity curve of ink (from the QA Chip)

Rsense

Wsense

Vsense

Tsense

7.3.2.3 Dot Counts

The MJI 211 maintains a count of the number of dots of each color firedfrom the printhead in a dot count register 240. The dot count for eachcolor is a 32-bit value, individually cleared, by a signal 241, underprocessor control. At 12-bits length, each dot count can hold a maximumcoverage dot count of 17 12-inch pages, although in typical usage, thedot count will be read and cleared after each page.

The dot counts are used by the processor to update the QA chip 85 (seeSection 7.5.4.1) in order to predict when the ink cartridge runs out ofink. The processor knows the volume of ink in the cartridge for each ofC, M, Y, and K from the QA chip, Counting the number of drops eliminatesthe need for ink sensors, and prevents the ink channels from runningdry. An updated drop count is written to the QA chip after each page. Anew page will not be printed unless there is enough ink left, and allowsthe user to change the ink without getting a dud half-printed page whichmust be reprinted.

The layout of the dot counter for cyan is shown in FIG. 34. Theremaining 3 dot counters (MDotCount, YDotCount, and KDotCount formagenta, yellow, and black respectively) are identical in structure.

7.3.2.4 Registers

The processor 139 communicates with the MJI 211 via a register set. Theregisters allow the processor to parameterize a print as well as receivefeedback about print progress.

The following registers are contained in the MJI:

TABLE 27 Memjet Interface Registers Register Name Description PrintParameters NumTransfers The number of transfers required to load thePrinthead (usually 1600). This is the number of pulses for both SRClocklines and the total number of 32-bit data values to transfer for a givenline. PrintSpeed Whether to print at low or high speed (determines thevalue on the PodgroupEnable lines during the print). NumLines The numberof Load/Print cycles to perform. Monitoring the Print Status The MemjetInterface's Status Register LinesRemaining The number of lines remainingto be printed. Only valid while Go=1. Starting value is NumLines.TransfersRemaining The number of transfers remaining before thePrinthead is considered loaded for the current line. Only valid whileGo=1. SenseSegment The 8-bit value to place on the Cyan data linesduring a subsequent feedback SenseSegSelect pulse. Only 1 of the 8 bitsshould be set, corresponding to one of the 8 segments. SeeSenseSegSelect for how to determine which of the two 4-inch printheadsto sense. SetAllNozzles If non-zero, the 32-bit value written to theprinthead during the LoadDots process is all 1s, so that all nozzleswill be fired during the subsequent PrintDots process. This is usedduring the preheat and cleaning cycles. If 0, the 32-bit value writtento the printhead comes from the LLFU. This is the case during the actualprinting of regular images. Actions Reset A write to this registerresets the MJI, stops any loading or printing processes, and loads allregisters with 0. SenseSegSelect A write to this register with any valueclears the FeedbackValid bit of the Status register, and depending onthe low-order bit, sends a pulse on the SenseEnable1 or SenseEnable2line if the LoadingDots and PrintingDots status bits are all 0. If anyof the status bits are set, the Feedback bit is cleared and nothing moreis done. Once the various sense lines have been tested, the values areplaced in the Tsense, Vsense, Rsense, and Wsense registers, and then theFeedback bit of the Status register is set. Go A write of 1 to this bitstarts the LoadDots/ PrintDots cycles. A total of NumLines lines areprinted, each containing NumTransfers 32 bit transfers. As each line isprinted, LinesRemaining decrements, and TransfersRemaining is reloadedwith NumTransfers again. The status register contains print statusinformation. Upon completion of NumLines, the loading/printing processstops and the Go bit is cleared. During the final print cycle, nothingis loaded into the printhead. A write of 0 to this bit stops the printprocess, but does not clear any other registers. ClearCounts A write tothis register clears the CDotCount, MDotCount, YDotCount, and KDotCountregisters if bits 0, 1, 2, or 3 respectively are set. Consequently awrite of 0 has no effect. Feedback Tsense Read only feedback of Tsensefrom the last SenseSegSelect pulse sent to segment SenseSegment. Is onlyvalid if the FeedbackValid bit of the Status register is set. VsenseRead only feedback of Vsense from the last SenseSegSelect pulse sent tosegment SenseSegment. Is only valid if the FeedbackValid bit of theStatus register is set. Rsense Read only feedback of Rsense from thelast SenseSegSelect pulse sent to segment SenseSegment. Is only valid ifthe FeedbackValid bit of the Status register is set. Wsense Read onlyfeedback of Wsense from the last SenseSegSelect pulse sent to segmentSenseSegment. Is only valid if the FeedbackValid bit of the Statusregister is set. CDotCount Read only 32-bit count of cyan dots sent tothe printhead. MDotCount Read only 32-bit count of magenta dots sent tothe printhead. YDotCount Read only 32-bit count of yellow dots sent tothe printhead KDotCount Read only 32-bit count of black dots sent to theprinthead

The MJI's Status Register is a 16-bit register with bit interpretationsas follows:

TABLE 28 MJI Status Register Name Bits Description LoadingDots 1 If set,the MJT is currently loading dots, with the number of dots remaining tobe transferred in TransfersRemaining. If clear, the MJI is not currentlyloading dots PrintingDots 1 If set, the MJI is currently printing dots.If clear, the MJI is not currently printing dots. PrintingA 1 This bitis set while there is a pulse on the AEnable line PrintingB 1 This bitis set while there is a pulse on the BEnable line FeedbackValid 1 Thisbit is set while the feedback values Tsense, Vsense, Rsense, and Wsenseare valid. Reserved 3 — PrintingChromapod 4 This holds the currentchromapod being fired while the PrintingDots status bit is set.PrintingNozzles 4 This holds the current nozzle being fired while thePrintingDots status bit is set.

7.3.2.5 Preheat and Cleaning Cycles

The Cleaning and Preheat cycles are simply accomplished by settingappropriate registers:

SetAllNozzles=1

Set the PulseDuration register to either a low duration (in the case ofthe preheat mode) or to an appropriate drop ejection duration forcleaning mode.

Set NumLines to be the number of times the nozzles should be fired

Set the Go bit and then wait for the Go bit to be cleared when the printcycles have completed.

7.4 Processor and Memory

7.4.1 Processor

The processor 139 runs the control program which synchionises the otherfunctional units during page reception, expansion and printing. It alsoruns the device drivers for the various external interfaces, andresponds to user actions through the user interface.

It must have low interrupt latency, to provide efficient DMA management,but otherwise does not need to be particularly high-performance DMAController.

The DMA controller supports single-address transfers on 27 channels (seeTable 29). It generates vectored interrupts to the processor on transfercompletion.

TABLE 29 DMA channel usage functional unit input channels outputchannels USB interface — 1 EDRL expander 1 1 JPEG decoder 1 8halftoner/compositor 2 8 speaker interface 1 — printhead interface 4 — 819  27 

7.4.3 Program ROM

The program ROM hldos the ICP control program which is loaded into mainmemory during system boot.

7.4.4 Rambus Interface

The Rambus interface provides the high-speed interface to the external 8MB (64 Mbit) RaAbus DRAM (RDRAM).

7.5 External Interfaces

7.5.1 USB Interface

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface provides a standard USB deviceinterface.

7.5.2 Speaker Interface

The speaker interface 250 (FIG. 35) contains a small FIFO 251 used forDMA-mediated transfers of sound clips from main memory, an 8-bitdigital-to-analog converter (DAC) 252 which converts each 8-bit samplevalue to a voltage, and an amplifier 253 which feeds the externalspeaker. When the FIFO is empty it outputs a zero value.

The speaker interface is clocked at the frequency of the sound clips.

The processor outputs a sound clip to the speaker simply by programmingthe DMA channel of the speaker interface.

7.5.3 Parallel Interface

The parallel interface 231 provides I/O on a number of parallel externalsignal lines.

It allows the processor to sense or control the devices listed in Table30.

TABLE 30 Parallel Interface devices parallel interface devices powerbutton paper feed button power LED out-of-paper LED ink low LED mediasensor paper transport stepper motor

7.5.4 Serial Interface

The serial interface 232 provides two standard low-speed serial ports.

One port is used to connect to the master QA chip 85. The other is usedto connect to the QA chip in the ink cartridge 233. Theprocessor-mediated protocol between the two is used to authenticate theink cartridge. The processor can then retrieve ink characteristics fromthe QA chip, as well as the remaining volume of each ink. The processoruses the ink characteristics to properly configure the Memjet printhead.It uses the remaining ink volumes, updated on a page-by-page basis withink consumption information accumulated by the printhead interface, toensure that it never allows the printhead to be damaged by running dry.

7.5.4.1 Ink Cartridge QA Chip

The QA chip 233 in the ink cartridge contains information required formaintaining the best possible print quality, and is implemented using anauthentication chip. The 256 bits of data in the authentication chip areallocated as follows:

TABLE 31 Ink cartridge's 256 bits (16 entries of 16-bits) M[n] accesswidth description 0 RO^(a) 16 Basic header, flags etc. 1 RO 16 Serialnumber. 2 RO 16 Batch number. 3 RO 16 Reserved for future expansion.Must be 0. 4 RO 16 Cyan ink properties. 5 RO 16 Magenta ink properties.6 RO 16 Yellow ink properties. 7 RO 16 Black ink properties. 8-9 DO^(b)32 Cyan ink remaining, in nanolitres. 10-11 DO 32 Magenta ink remaining,in nanolitres. 12-13 DO 32 Yellow ink remaining, in nanolitres. 14-15 DO32 Black ink remaining, in nanolitres. ^(a)read only (RO) ^(b)decrementonly (DO)

Before each page is printed, the processor must check the amount of inkremaining to ensure there is enough for an entire worst-case page. Oncethe page has been printed, the processor multiplies the total number ofdrops of each color (obtained from the printhead interface) by the dropvolume. The amount of printed ink is subtracted from the amount of inkremaining. The unit of measurement for ink remaining is nanoliters, so32 bits can represent over 4 liters of ink. The amount of ink used for apage must be rounded up to the nearest nanoliter (i.e. approximately1000 printed dots).

7.5.5 JTAG Interface

A standard JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) interface is included fortesting purposes. Due to the complexity of the chip, a variety oftesting techniques are required, including BIST (Built In Self Test) andfunctional block isolation. An overhead of 10% in chip area is assumedfor overall chip testing circuitry.

8 Generic Printer Driver

This section describes generic aspects of any host-based printer driverfor iPrint.

8.1 Graphics and Imaging Model

We assume that the printer driver is closely coupled with the hostgraphics system, so that the printer driver can provide device-specifichandling for different graphics and imaging operations, in particularcompositing operations and text operations.

We assume that the host provides support for color management, so thatdevice-independent color can be converted to iPrint-specific CMYK colorin a standard way, based on a user-selected iPrint-specific ICC(International Color Consortium) color profile. The color profile isnormally selected implicitly by the user when the user specifies theoutput medium in the printer (i.e. plain paper, coated paper,transparency, etc.). The page description sent to the printer alwayscontains device-specific CMYK color.

We assume that the host graphics system renders images and graphics to anominal resolution specified by the printer driver, but that it allowsthe printer driver to take control of rendering text. In particular, thegraphics system provides sufficient information to the printer driver toallow it to render and position text at a higher resolution than thenominal device resolution.

We assume that the host graphics system requires random access to acontone page buffer at the nominal device resolution, into which itcomposites graphics and imaging objects, but that it allows the printerdriver to take control of the actual compositing—i.e. it expects theprinter driver to manage the page buffer.

8.2 Two-Layer Page Buffer

The print's page description contains a 267 ppi contone layer and an 800dpi black layer. The black layer is conceptually above the contonelayer, i.e. the black layer is composited over the contone layer by theprinter. The printer driver therefore maintains a page buffer 260 whichcorrespondingly contains a medium-resolution contone layer 261 and ahigh-resolution black layer 262.

The graphics systems renders and composites objects into the page bufferbottom-up—i.e. later objects obscure earlier objects. This worksnaturally when there is only a single layer, but not when there are twolayers which will be composited later. It is therefore necessary todetect when an object being placed on the contone layer obscuressomething on the black layer.

When obscuration is detected, the obscured black pixels are compositedwith the contone layer and removed from the black layer. The obscuringobject is then laid down on the contone layer, possibly interacting withthe black pixels in some way. If the compositing mode of the obscuringobject is such that no interaction with the background is possible, thenthe black pixels can simply be discarded without being composited withthe contone layer. In practice, of course, there is little interactionbetween the contone layer and the black layer.

The printer driver specifies a nominal page resolution of 267 ppi to thegraphics system. Where possible the printer driver relies on thegraphics system to render image and graphics objects to the pixel levelat 267 ppi, with the exception of black text. The printer driver fieldsall text rendering requests, detects and renders black text at 800 dpi,but returns non-black text rendering requests to the graphics system forrendering at 267 ppi.

Ideally the graphics system and the printer driver manipulate color indevice-independent RGB, deferring conversion to device-specific CMYKuntil the page is complete and ready to be sent to the printer. Thisreduces page buffer requirements and makes compositing more rational.Compositing in CMYK color space is not ideal.

Ultimately the graphics system asks the printer driver to composite eachrendered object into the printer driver's page buffer. Each such objectuses 24-bit contone RGB, and has an explicit (or implicitly opaque)opacity channel.

The printer driver maintains the two-layer page buffer 260 in threeparts. The first part is the medium-resolution (267 ppi) contone layer261. This consists of a 24-bit RGB bitmap. The second part is amedium-resolution black layer 263. This consists of an 8-bit opacitybitmap. The third part is a high-resolution (800 dpi) black layer 262.This consists of a 1-bit opacity bitmap. The medium-resolution blacklayer is a subsampled version of the high-resolution opacity layer. Inpractice, assuming the medium resolution is an integer factor n of thehigh resolution (e.g. n=800/267=3), each medium-resolution opacity valueis obtained by averaging the corresponding n×n high-resolution opacityvalues. This corresponds to box-filtered subsampling. The subsampling ofthe black pixels effectively antialiases edges in the high-resolutionblack layer, thereby reducing ringing artefacts when the contone layeris subsequently JPEG-compressed and decompressed.

The structure and size of the page buffer is illustrated in FIG. 36.

8.3 Compositing Model

For the purposes of discussing the page buffer compositing model, wedefine the following variables.

TABLE 32 Compositing variables variable description resolution format nmedium to high resolution scale — — factor C_(BgM) background contonelayer color medium 8-bit color component C_(ObM) contone object colormedium 8-bit color component α_(ObM) contone object opacity medium 8-bitopacity α_(FgM) medium-resolution foreground black medium 8-bit opacitylayer opacity α_(FgH) foreground black layer opacity high 1-bit opacityα_(TxH) black object opacity high 1-bit opacity

When a black object of opacity α_(TxH) is composited with the blacklayer, the black layer is updated as follows:

α_(FgH) [x,y]←α _(FgH) [x,y]v α _(TxH) [x,y]  (Rule 1)

$\begin{matrix}\left. {\alpha_{FgM}\left\lbrack {x,y} \right\rbrack}\leftarrow{\frac{1}{n^{2}}{\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n - 1}{\sum\limits_{j = 0}^{n - 1}{255{\alpha_{FgH}\left\lbrack {{{nx} + i},{{ny} + j}} \right\rbrack}}}}} \right. & \left( {{Rule}\quad 2} \right)\end{matrix}$

The object opacity is simply ored with the black layer opacity (Rule 1),and the corresponding part of the medium-resolution black layer isre-computed from the high-resolution black layer (Rule 2).

When a contone object of color C_(ObM) and opacity α_(ObM) is compositedwith the contone layer, the contone layer and the black layer areupdated as follows:

C _(BgM) [x,y]←C _(BgM) [x,y](1−α_(FgM) [x,y])ifα_(ObM) [x,y]>0  (Rule3)

α_(FgM) [x,y]←0 ifα _(ObM) [x,y]>0  (Rule 4)

α_(FgH) [x,y]←0 ifα _(ObM) [x/n,y/n]>0  (Rule 5)

C _(BgM) [x,y]←C _(BgM) [x,y](1−α_(ObM) [x,y])+C _(ObM) [x,y]α _(ObM)[x,y]  (Rule 6)

Wherever the contone object obscures the black layer, even if not fullyopaquely, the affected black layer pixels are pushed from the blacklayer to the contone layer, i.e. composited with the contone layer (Rule3) and removed from the black layer (Rule 4 and Rule 5). The contoneobject is then composited with the contone layer (Rule 6).

If a contone object pixel is fully opaque (i.e. α_(obM)[x,y]=255), thenthere is no need to push the corresponding black pixels into thebackground contone layer (Rule 3), since the background contone pixelwill subsequently be completely obliterated by the foreground contonepixel (Rule 6).

FIGS. 37 to 41 illustrate the effect on the foreground black layer andthe background contone layer of compositing objects of various typesonto the image represented by the two layers. In each case the state ofthe two layers is shown before and after the object is composited. Thedifferent resolutions of the foreground and background layers areindicated by the layers' different pixel grid densities.

The output image represented to the two layers is shown without a pixelgrid, since the actual rendering of the image is not the focus ofdiscussion here.

The medium-resolution foreground black layer is not illustrated, but isimplicitly present. Whenever Rule 1 is applied to the high-resolutionforeground black layer, Rule 2 is implicitly applied to themedium-resolution foreground black layer. Whenever Rule 4 is applied,Rule 5 is also implicitly applied.

FIG. 37 illustrates the effect of compositing a black object 270 onto awhite image. The black object is simply composited into the foregroundblack layer 271 (Rule 1). The background contone layer 272 isunaffected, and the output image 273 is the black object.

FIG. 38 illustrates the effect of compositing a contone object 280 ontoa white image. The contone object 280 is simply composited into thebackground contone layer 282 (Rule 6). The foreground black layer 281 isunaffected, and the output image 283 is the contone object.

FIG. 39 illustrates the effect of compositing a black object 290 onto animage already containing a contone object 292. Again the black object issimply composited into the foreground black layer 291 (Rule 1). Thebackground contone layer is unaffected, and the output image 293 has theblack object 290 over the contone object 292.

FIG. 40 illustrates the effect of compositing an opaque contone object300 onto an image already containing a black object 301. Since thecontone object obscures part of the existing black object, the affectedparts of the existing bi-level object are removed from the foregroundblack layer 302 (Rule 4). There is no need to composite the affectedparts into the contone layer because the contone object is fully opaque,and Rule 3 is therefore skipped. The contone object is composited intothe background contone layer as usual 303 (Rule 6), and the output image304 shows the contone object 300 over, and obscuring, the black object.

FIG. 41 illustrates the effect of compositing a partially transparentcontone object 310 onto an image already containing a black object 311.Since the contone object obscures part of the existing black objectpartially transparently, the affected parts of the black object arecomposited into the contone layer 312 (Rule 3), and are then removedfrom the foreground black layer 313 (Rule 4). The contone object is thencomposited into the background contone layer as usual 314 (Rule 6).

The final image 315 shows darkening of those contone pixels whichtransparently obscure parts of the existing black object.

8.4 Page Compression and Delivery

Once page rendering is complete, the printer driver converts the contonelayer to print-specific CMVV with the help of color management functionsin the graphing system.

The printer driver then compresses and packages the black layer and thecontone layer into an iPrint page description as described in Section5.2. This page description is delivered to the printer via the standardspooler.

Note that the black layer is manipulated as a set of 1-bit opacityvalues, but is delivered to the printer as a set of 1-bit black values.Although these two interpretations are different, they share the samerepresentation, and so no data conversion is required.

9 Windows 9X/NT Printer Driver

9.1 Windows 9x/NT Printing System

In the Windows 9x/NT printing system [8][9], a printer 320 is a graphicsdevice, and an application 321 communicates with it via the graphicsdevice interface 322 (GDI). The printer driver graphics DLL 323 (dynamiclink library) implements the device-dependent aspects of the variousgraphics functions provided by GDI.

The spooler 333 handles the delivery of pages to the printer, and mayreside on a different machine to the application requesting printing. Itdelivers pages to the printer via aport monitor 334 which handles thephysical connection to the printer. The optional language monitor 335 isthe part of the printer driver which imposes additional protocol oncommunication with the printer, and in particular decodes statusresponses from the printer on behalf of the spooler.

The printer driver user interface DLL 336 implements the user interfacefor editing printer-specific properties and reporting printer-specificevents.

The structure of the Windows 9x/NT printing system is illustrated inFIG. 42.

Since iPrint uses USB IEEE-1284 emulation, there is no need to implementa language monitor for iPrint.

The remainder of this section describes the design of the printer drivergraphics DLL. It should be read in conjunction with the appropriateWindows 9x/NT DDK documentation [8][9].

9.2 Windows 9x/NT Graphics Device Interface (GDI)

GDI provides functions which allow an application to draw on a devicesurface, i.e. typically an abstraction of a display screen or a printedpage. For a raster device, the device surface is conceptually a colorbitmap. The application can draw on the surface in a device-independentway, i.e. independently of the resolution and color characteristics ofthe device.

The application has random access to the entire device surface. Thismeans that if a memory-limited printer device requires banded output,then GDI must buffer the entire page's GDI commands and replay themwindowed into each band in turn. Although this provides the applicationwith great flexibility, it can adversely affect performance.

GDI supports color management, whereby device-independent colorsprovided by the application are transparently translated intodevice-dependent colors according to a standard ICC (International ColorConsortium) color profile of the device. A printer driver can activate adifferent color profile depending, for example, on the user's selectionof paper type on the driver-managed printer property sheet.

GDI supports line and spline outline graphics (paths), images, and text.Outline graphics, including outline font glyphs, can be stroked andfilled with bit-mapped brush patterns. Graphics and images can begeometrically transformed and composited with the contents of the devicesurface. While Windows 95/NT4 provides only boolean compositingoperators, Windows 98NT5 provides proper alpha-blending [9].

9.3 Printer Driver Graphics DLL

A raster printer can, in theory, utilize standard printer drivercomponents under Windows 9x/NT, and this can make the job of developinga printer driver trivial. This relies on being able to model the devicesurface as a single bitmap. The problem with this is that text andimages must be rendered at the same resolution. This either compromisestext resolution, or generates too much output data, compromisingperformance.

As described earlier, iPrint's approach is to render black text andimages at different resolutions, to optimize the reproduction of each.The printer driver is therefore implemented according to the genericdesign described in Section 8.

The driver therefore maintains a two-layer three-part page buffer asdescribed in Section 8.2, and this means that the printer driver musttake over managing the device surface, which in turn means that it mustmediate all GDI access to the device surface.

9.3.1 Managing the Device Surface

The printer driver must support a number of standard functions,including the following:

TABLE 33 Standard graphics driver interface functions functiondescription DrvEnableDriver Initial entry point into the driver graphicsDLL. Returns addresses of functions supported by the driver.DrvEnablePDEV Creates a logical representation of a physical device withwhich the driver can associate a drawing surface. DrvEnableSurfaceCreates a surface to be drawn on, associated with a given PDEV.

DrvEnablePDEV indicates to GDI, via the flGraphicsCaps member of thereturned DEVINFO structure, the graphics rendering capabilities of thedriver. This is discussed further below.

DrvEnableSurface creates a device surface consisting of two conceptuallayers and three parts: the 267 ppi contone layer 24-bit RGB color, the267 ppi black layer 8-bit opacity, and the 800 dpi black layer 1-bitopacity. The virtual device surface which encapsulates these two layershas a nominal resolution of 267 ppi, so this is the resolution at whichGDI operations take place.

Although the aggregate page buffer requires about 33 MB of memory, thePC 99 office standard [5] specifies a minimum of 64 MB.

In practice, managing the device surface and mediating GDI access to itmeans that the printer driver must support the following additionalfunctions:

TABLE 34 Required graphics driver functions for a device-managed surfacefunction description DrvCopyBits Translates between device-managedraster surfaces and GDI-managed standard-format bitmaps. DrvStrokePathStrokes a path. DrvPaint Paints a specified region. DrvTextOut Renders aset of glyphs at specified positions.

Copying images, stroking paths and filling regions all occur on thecontone layer, while rendering solid black text occurs on the bi-levelblack layer. Furthermore, rendering non-black text also occurs on thecontone layer, since it isn't supported on the black layer. Conversely,stroking or filling with solid black can occur on the black layer (if weso choose).

Although the printer driver is obliged to hook the aforementionedfunctions, it can punt function calls which apply to the contone layerback to the corresponding GDI implementations of the functions, sincethe contone layer is a standard-format bitmap. For every DrvXxx functionthere is a corresponding EngXxx function provided by GDI.

As described in Section 8.2 , when an object destined for the contonelayer obscures pixels on the black layer, the obscured black pixels mustbe transferred from the black layer to the contone layer before thecontone object is composited with the contone layer. The key to thisprocess working is that obscuration is detected and handled in thehooked call, before it is punted back to GDI. This involves determiningthe pixel-by-pixel opacity of the contone object from its geometry, andusing this opacity to selectively transfer black pixels from the blacklayer to the contone layer as described in Section 8.2.

9.3.2 Determining Contone Object Geometry

It is possible to determine the geometry of each contone object beforeit is rendered and thus determine efficiently which black pixels itobscures. In the case of DrvCopyBits and DrvPaint, the geometry isdetermined by a clip object (CLIPOBJ), which can be enumerated as a setof rectangles.

In the case of DrvStrokePath, things are more complicated. DrvStrokePathsupports both straight-line and Bezier-spline curve segments, andsingle-pixel-wide lines and geometric-wide lines. The first step is toavoid the complexity of Bezier-spline curve segments and geometric-widelines altogether by clearing the corresponding capability flags(GCAPS_BEZIERS and GCAPS_GEOMETRICWIDE) in the flGraphicsCaps member ofthe driver's DEVINFO structure. This causes GDI to reformulate suchcalls as sets of simpler calls to DrvPaint. In general, GDI gives adriver the opportunity to accelerate high-level capabilities, butsimulates any capabilities not provided by the driver.

What remains is simply to determine the geometry of a single-pixel-widestraight line. Such a line can be solid or cosmetic. In the latter case,the line style is determined by a styling array in the specified lineattributes (LINEATTRS). The styling array specifies how the linealternates between being opaque and transparent along its length, and sosupports various dashed line effects etc.

When the brush is solid black, straight lines can also usefully berendered to the black layer, though with the increased width implied bythe 800 dpi resolution.

9.3.3 Rendering Text

In the case of a DrvTextOut, things are also more complicated. Firstly,the opaque background, if any, is handled like any other fill on thecontone layer (see DrvPaint). If the foreground brush is not black, orthe mix mode is not effectively opaque, or the font is not scalable, orthe font indicates outline stroking, then the call is punted toEngTextOut, to be applied to the contone layer. Before the call ispunted, however, the driver determines the geometry of each glyph byobtaining its bitmap (via FONTOBJ_cGetGlyphs), and makes the usualobscuration check against the black layer.

If punting a DrvTextOut call is not allowed (the documentation isambiguous), then the driver should disallow complex text operations.This includes disallowing outline stroking (by clearing theGCAPS_VECTOR_FONT capability flag), and disallowing complex mix modes(by clearing the GCAPS_ARBMIXTXT capability flag).

If the foreground brush is black and opaque, and the font is scalableand not stroked, then the glyphs are rendered on the black layer. Inthis case the driver determines the geometry of each glyph by obtainingits outline (again via FONTOBJ_cGetGlyphs, but as a PATHOBJ). The driverthen renders each glyph from its outline at 800 dpi and writes it to theblack layer. Although the outline geometry uses device coordinates (i.e.at 267 ppi), the coordinates are in fixed point format with plenty offractional precision for higher-resolution rendering.

Note that strikethrough and underline rectangles are added to the glyphgeometry, if specified.

The driver must set the GCAPS_HIGHRESTEXT flag in the DEVINFO to requestthat glyph positions (again in 267 ppi device coordinates) be suppliedby GDI in high-precision fixed-point format, to allow accuratepositioning at 800 dpi. The driver must also provide an implementationof the DrvGetGlyphMode function, so that it can indicate to GDI thatglyphs should be cached as outlines rather than bitmaps. Ideally thedriver should cache rendered glyph bitmaps for efficiency, memoryallowing. Only glyphs below a certain point size should be cached.

9.3.4 Compressing the Contone Layer

As described earlier, the contone layer is compressed using JPEG. Theforward discrete cosine transform (DCT) is the costliest part of JPEGcompression. In current high-quality software implementations, theforward DCT of each 8×8 block requires 12 integer multiplications and 32integer additions [7]. On a Pentium processor, an integer multiplicationrequires 10 cycles, and an integer addition requires 2 cycles [11]. Thisequates to a total cost per block of 184 cycles.

The 25.5 MB contone layer consists of 417,588 JPEG blocks, giving anoverall forward DCT cost of about 77 Mcycles. At 300 MHz, the PC 99desktop standard [5], this equates to 0.26 seconds, which is well withinthe 2 second limit per page.

10 REFERENCES

[1] ANSI/EIA 538-1988, Facsimile Coding Schemes and Coding ControlFunctions for Group 4 Facsimile Equipment, August 1988

[2] Humphreys, G. W., and V. Bruce, Visual Cognition, Lawrence ErlbaumAssociates, 1989, p.15

[3] IEEE Std 1284-1994, IEEE Standard Signaling Method for aBidirectional Parallel Peripheral Interface for Personal Computers, Dec.2, 1994

[4] Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp., PC 98 System Design Guide, 1997

[5] Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp., PC 99 System Design Guide, 1998

[6] ISO/IEC 19018-1: 1994, Information technology—Digital compressionand coding of continuous-tone still images: Requirements and guidelines,1994

[7] Loeffler, C., A. Ligtenberg and G. Moschytz, “Practical Fast 1-D DCTAlgorithms with 11 Multiplications”, Proceedings of the InternationalConference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing 1989 (ICASSP'89), pp.988-991

[8] Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Device Driver Kit, 1997

[9] Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows NT 5.0 Device Driver Kit, 1998

[10] Olsen, J. “Smoothing Enlarged Monochrome Images”, in Glassner, A.S. (ed.), Graphics Gems, AP Professional, 1990

[11] Schmit, M. L., Pentium Processor Optimization Tools, APProfessional, 1995

[12] Thompson, H. S., Multilingual Corpus 1 CD-ROM, European CorpusInitiative

[13] Urban, S. J., “Review of standards for electronic imaging forfacsimile systems”, Journal of Electronic Imaging, Vol.1(1), January1992, pp.5-21

[14] USB Implementers Forum, Universal Serial Bus Specification,Revision 1.0, 1996

[15] USB Implementers Forum, Universal Serial Bus Device ClassDefinition for Printer Devices, Version 1.07 Draft, 1998

[16] Wallace, G. K., “The JPEG Still Picture Compression Standard”,Communications of the ACM, 34(4), April 1991, pp.30-44

[17] Yasuda, Y., “Overview of Digital Facsimile Coding Techniques inJapan”, Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 68(7), July 1980, pp.830-845

We claim:
 1. A modular printhead for a color printing including aplurality of nozzles, each nozzle effecting deposition of an ink drop toform a dot on print media during a firing cycle of said printhead,wherein said nozzles are arranged in pods, with said nozzles of each podconnected to a respective common ink supply line, the nozzles of eachpod being arranged in a number of distinct rows, and pods of eachdifferent color being arranged together into operating groups in whichselected mutually exclusive sub-groups of nozzles are gated to enablethe nozzle of each sub-group to be fired simultaneously at predeterminedphases of said firing cycle, one pod of each different color beinggrouped together to form a chromapod in which the pods of differentcolors are arranged so that the dots printed by the nozzles of one colorwill be for different lines than those printed by the other colors atthe same time, but each pod of the chromapod will print the same groupof dots in turn, one or more chromapods being formed into a phasegroupin which groups of nozzles are fired simultaneously during a givenfiring phase, and one or more chromapods being organised into a singlepodgroup, one or more podgroups being organised into a singlephasegroup, one or more phasegroups being organised into a singlefiregroup in which the same nozzles are fired simultaneously, one ormore firegroups making up a segment, and said printhead having a numberof segments side by side.
 2. A modular printhead according to claim 1,wherein there are two rows of nozzles in each pod, and the nozzles ofone row deposit ink drops along one line on said print media and thenozzles of the other row deposit ink drops along a different line onsaid print media.
 3. A modular printhead according to claim 2, whereinan offset between said rows of nozzles is designed having regard toprint media transfer velocity past the nozzles.
 4. A modular printheadaccording to claim 1, wherein the nozzles of each pod are fired inorder, along a first row starting from a first side and ending at theother side, and then along subsequent rows in the same direction,starting from said first side and ending at said other side.
 5. Amodular printhead according to claim 1, wherein a single pod consists often nozzles sharing a common ink reservoir.
 6. An ink drop firing methodusing the modular printhead of claim 1, the method comprising the stepsof: firing one nozzle per color from a said chromapod within a podgroup,and then firing a nozzle from a next one of said chromapods within saidpodgroup.
 7. A method according to claim 6, wherein there are at leasttwo podgroups in each phasegroup, and during low-spped printing only onepodgoup of each phasegroup fires nozzles at a time and the chromapodswithin both podgroups must all fire before the first chromapod firesagain.
 8. A method according to claim 6, wherein during high-speedprinting, all podgroups fire nozzles simultaneously and the chromapodswithin a single podgroup must all fires before the first chromapod firesagain.